Littoral Combat Ship to be named Gabrielle Giffords

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus recently formally announced the name for Austal’s next Littoral Combat Ship of the 10-ship contract awarded to Austal in December 2010.

LCS 10 will be named USS Gabrielle Giffords, after the former Congresswoman from Tuscon, Ariz.

This will be the third ship awarded under Austal’s current U.S. Navy contract for construction of up to an additional 10 Littoral Combat Ships with a total value in excess of $3.5 billion.

Once commissioned, these 10 ships will join the Austal-built USS Independence which was commissioned in January 2010. Coronado was recently christened at Austal and is currently being prepared to undergo builder’s trials.

This 10-ship LCS contract and the 10-ship Joint High Speed Vessel award, of which seven are under contract and three are under construction in Austal’s Mobile, Alabama shipyard, will require Austal to more than double its workforce to over 4,000 employees.

This will further strengthen Austal’s claim is the largest manufacturing employer in Mobile County.

Mr. Rella had this to say about the Secretary’s choice of names for the next Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ship class vessel:

“We are honored to have the opportunity to build a ship that will play such an important role in Naval History. As only the 17th ship to be named for a woman and the 13th ship to be named for a living person since 1850, this ship will become a part of the shipbuilding legacy that Mobile, Alabama has become known for.”