Former Congresswoman Giffords, wounded in 2011 shooting, honored with Navy ship in her name
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE - In this March 4, 2015, file photo, former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords of Arizona gestures as she speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Giffords is being recognized with a Navy ship named in her honor at a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. Giffords is set to attend the Saturday, June 13, 2015, christening of the USS Gabrielle Giffords. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) (The Associated Press)
Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle "Gabby" Giffords of Arizona is being recognized with a Navy ship named in her honor at a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama.
Giffords is set to attend the Saturday christening of the USS Gabrielle Giffords.
The 419-foot ship was built at the Austal shipyard in Mobile. It's the Navy's 10th littoral combat ship designed to operate in shallow waters near the coast.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Giffords was badly wounded in a 2011 shooting that left six dead and 13 injured in Tuscon. The Democrat left Congress and later founded an organization that supports gun control.
Austal officials say Giffords, her astronaut husband Mark Kelly and the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, Jill Biden, are expected to speak at the christening.