LCS Gabrielle Giffords

[wch]

I sent a letter to the Secretary of the Army pointing out that the US Navy is going to name a ship after G. Giffords, that unfortunate politician who was shot last year.
I asked him if the US Army was going to name something after the Ft Hood victims of that maniacal psychiatrist.
I think that this is a reasonable request but I don't expect anything other than a form letter answer, if even that.

[Artful]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Gabrielle_Giffords_%28LCS-10%29

USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cd/USS_Independence_LCS-2_at_pierce_%28cropped%29.jpg/300px-USS_Independence_LCS-2_at_pierce_%28cropped%29.jpg
USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) USS Independence LCS-2 at pierce (cropped).jpg
Sister ship USS Independence
Career
Namesake: Gabrielle Giffords
Builder: Austal USA
Sponsored by: Roxanna Green[1][2]
Status: Name assigned
General characteristics
Class & 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
& 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


USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) will be an 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 of 2015.[5]
Naming controversy

Some 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[6] while military blogger Spencer Ackerman called it "The USS Shameless Cynicism."[7] 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.[8][9]

Wonder how long before we have the USS Trayvon Martin?

[freebullet]

Sick...just sick.

[Boyscout]

How would you like to serve on a ship while defending the Constitution of the United States that is named after a woman who has no use for what you are defending? I was equally offended when the Navy buried John "John" Kennedy at sea at our expense. He could have been dumped overboard at sea a lot cheaper by one of his leftist friends off one of their yachts.

[jaysouth]

Political correctness run amok!

[HollandNut]

No Comment , well what the hay , as a 22 year Navy veteran , it just blows a big one

[MT Chambers]

Maybe the ships armaments will not use real shells, just blanks, or flowers will pop out of the muzzles, and the crew can join hands and sing and rejoice.

[xs11jack]

Ya, looks like a Cumbuya(sp) moment to me
Ole Jack

[histed]

HUMMMMMM!?? And then there was the USS (United Soviet States) Barack Obama. It had no armament, it just sailed around in circles jumping to false conclusions and making empty threats if the bad guys didn't behave. I think it DID launch detention slips in the form of paper airplanes.

GAG!!!

[Cmm_3940]

I suspect that the Navy would agree to name a ship the fluffy pink bunny if that is what it takes to get funding to build it.

[Artful]

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/546/ussobama3golflabel.jpg

If he fails to get funding to build it - Plan B

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/834/sinkingputzussimpostoro.jpg

What some of us feel he deserves to be named after him

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/xq90/13/ussobama.jpg

[histed]

Love the pic, artful! Couldn't be more appropriate.

[dragon813gt]

So we now name warships after victims instead of heroes? This officially means that everyone gets a trophy. Why was this name even considered? She got shot, so what? She did nothing besides take a bullet and then try to take my rights away.

[B R Shooter]

There was a Federal Judge killed at the same place and day as Giffords. Never hear anything about that.

[Charley]

Can't wait for the USS Whiney P***y, the USS Victim, or the USS Flower Child.

[Smoke4320]

Great pics artful .. O' so true