The littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords arrived at its homeport of San Diego Wednesday, less than a month after it was commissioned in Texas.
The 419-foot-long vessel, named for an Arizona congresswoman wounded in a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, sailed through the Panama Canal and made several port visits on its way to San Diego.
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Gabrielle Giffords is the ninth littoral combat ship delivered to the Navy and the fifth LCS of the Independence type, which features a trimaran hull and large flight deck.
The LCS is a high-speed, agile ship designed for combat in coastal waters. They replaced aging frigates, but have been prone to malfunctions, particularly to their propulsion systems.
According to the Navy, the Gabrielle Giffords is the 16th ship to be named for a woman and the 13th to be named for a living person since 1850.
