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^- Hi I'm Petty Office Alec Jacobs with your DoD News update.

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The USS Gabrielle Giffords,

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named after the former member

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of the US House of Representatives,

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was officially christened during

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a christening and launching ceremony June 13

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in Mobile, Alabama when Dr. Jill Biden,

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the ships sponsor, shattered the ceremonial bottle

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of champagne against the ships bow.

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Giffords was chosen as the ships namesake

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after she was badly wounded in a 2011 shooting incident

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in Tucson, Arizona and officials credit the characteristics

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she displayed after the attack.

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The USS Giffords is the Navy's 10th littoral combat ship

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and only the 16th US ship to be named after a woman.

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The 419 foot ship was built at the Austal shipyard

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and designed to operate in shallow waters near the coast.

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