The U.S. Navy’s newest littoral combat ship, the future USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), departed the Austal shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, May 8, and headed to her commissioning site in Galveston, Texas.
The ship’s commissioning is scheduled for June 10, after which she will begin her transit to her eventual homeport of San Diego.
As part of her sail around, Gabrielle Giffords will conduct regularly scheduled equipment and systems checks, training, visit several ports and transit through the Panama Canal.
“We are making the most of our sail around,” said Cmdr. Keith Woodley , commanding officer and a native of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. “During the transit to San Diego we will be conducting routine maintenance checks and training. We will also begin our Combat Ship Systems Qualification Trials events which are designed to test the ship’s ability to track and disable high-speed maneuvering surface targets and defeat long range anti-shipping air threats.”
Gabrielle Giffords is the ninth littoral combat ship delivered to the Navy and the fifth LCS of the Independence variant.