Mobile Christens "U.S.S. Gabrielle Giffords"

Former U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords of Arizona is being recognized with a Navy ship named in her honor at a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. The former lawmaker is set to attend the christening of the USS Gabrielle Giffords. The four hundred foot ship was built at the Austal shipyard in Mobile. It's the Navy's tenth littoral combat ship designed to operate in shallow waters near the coast. Giffords was badly wounded in a 2011 shooting that left six dead and thirteen injured in Tuscon. The Democrat left Congress and later founded an organization that supports gun control. Her husband, former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, will accompany Giffords to the ceremony.

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Pat Duggins is news director for Alabama Public Radio.