AFP:US Navy names warship after wounded lawmaker
The US Navy named a new warship after Gabrielle Giffords on Friday, honouring the former Arizona lawmaker who survived a gunman’s bullet to the head a year ago.The USS Gabrielle Giffords represented a fitting tribute to a congresswoman who embodies the navy’s “unwavering courage,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said at a ceremony at the Pentagon.
“So it’s very appropriate that LCS 10 be named for someone who has become synonymous with courage, who has inspired the nation with remarkable resiliency and showed the possibilities of the human spirit,” said Mabus, as Giffords and her husband looked on. Mabus also said the ship’s sponsor would be Roxanna Green, the mother of a nine-year-old girl -- Christina Taylor-Green -- who was killed in the same shooting spree that left Giffords wounded.
Under naval tradition, a sponsor’s “spirit and presence guide the ship throughout its service life,” the Pentagon said in a statement. Giffords was shot in the head a year ago while she met with constituents outside a grocery store in Tuscon.