USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10)

USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10)
Career
Namesake: Gabrielle Giffords
Awarded: 16 March 2012
Builder: Austal USA
Laid down: 16 April 2014
Sponsored by: Roxanna Green[1][2]
Christened: 26 February 2015
Status: construction
General characteristics
Class and type:Independence-class littoral combat ship
Displacement:2,307 metric tons light, 3,104 metric tons full, 797 metric tons deadweight[3]
Length:127.4 m (418 ft)[3]
Beam:31.6 m (104 ft)[3]
Draft:14 ft (4.27 m)[3]
Propulsion:2× gas turbines, 2× diesel, 4× waterjets, retractable Azimuth thruster, 4× diesel generators
Speed:40 kn + (46 mph; 74 km/h), 47 knots (54 mph; 87 km/h) sprint
Range:4,300 nmi (8,000 km; 4,900 mi) at 20 kn + (23 mph; 37 km/h)
Capacity:210 tonnes
Complement:40 core crew (8 officers, 32 enlisted) plus up to 35 mission crew
Sensors and
processing systems:		Sea Giraffe 3D Surface/Air RADAR
Bridgemaster-E Navigational RADAR
AN/KAX-2 EO/IR sensor for GFC
Electronic warfare
and decoys:		EDO ES-3601 ESM
4× SRBOC rapid bloom chaff launchers
Armament:BAE Systems Mk 110 57 mm gun
4× .50-cal guns (2 aft, 2 forward)
Evolved SeaRAM 11 cell missile launcher
Mission modules
Aircraft carried:2× MH-60R/S Seahawks
MQ-8 Fire Scout

Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) is a Independence-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. The ship is named after former United States Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot along with eighteen other people during the 2011 shooting in Tucson, Arizona.[1] The ship's name was announced by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus on 10 February 2012. The ship's sponsor will be Roxanna Green, the mother of Christina-Taylor Green, age 9, who was killed in the Tucson shooting that wounded Giffords in January 2011.

Gabrielle Giffords will be the 15th U.S. naval ship to be named for a woman by the United States Navy.[4]

The ship, currently being built by Austal USA, is scheduled to be completed and delivered to the Navy in August 2015.[5] The ship was christened and moved from its construction facility to drydock on 26 February 2015.[6]

Naming controversy

Some conservative commentators disputed the decision to name the ship after Giffords, with two retired U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps officers criticizing the trend of naming ships for political reasons[7] while military blogger Spencer Ackerman called it "The USS Shameless Cynicism."[8] In response, some commentators have noted that several ships in the US Navy, including Henry M. Jackson, Carl Vinson, John C. Stennis, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush were named for prominent politicians who were still alive at the time of the naming, and that the still-active Carl Vinson was named for a congressman responsible for barring women from combat roles in the Navy for nearly 50 years, although unlike those other politicians, Giffords had not played a long and prominent role in the area of national defense.[9][10]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Cavas, Christopher P. (11 February 2012). "New LCS named for Gabrielle Giffords". Navy Times. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  2. ↑ Freking, Kevin (10 February 2012). "Navy names ship for former congresswoman Giffords". Associated Press (Yahoo!). Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10)". Naval Vessel Register. February 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  4. ↑ "US Navy Ships Named in Honor of Women". Naval History & Heritage Command. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  5. ↑  This article incorporates public domain material from the Congressional Research Service document "Navy Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Program: Background and Issues for Congress".
  6. ↑ "Navy ship named for Gabby Giffords hits water in Alabama" New York Daily News, February 26, 2015
  7. ↑ May, Caroline (14 February 2012). "Former military brass 'shocked,' 'angered' over USS Gabrielle Giffords". Daily Caller. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
  8. ↑ Ackerman, Spencer (10 February 2012). "The U.S.S. Shameless Cynicism". Retrieved 2012-06-16.
  9. ↑ Farley, Robert (10 February 2012). "USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10)". Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  10. ↑ Iskra, Darline (27 February 2012). "More on Ship-Naming Controversies: About the USS Gabrielle Giffords". Time, Inc.

External links