Now the Navy is scoring another public relations coup. This one is not due to the bravery and excellence of sailors, but to the intelligence and compassion of their leadership. The U.S. Navy is naming a new ship after former Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords (who survived being shot in the head by a madman in a mass shooting). Here is the announcement as written in Navy Times:
In yet another break with tradition, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced Friday that a new Littoral Combat Ship would be named for Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman who survived a January 2011 assassination attempt.
“The selection of Gabrielle Giffords, designated LCS 10, honors the former Congresswoman from Tucson, Arizona, who is known for supporting the military and veterans, advocating for renewable energy and championing border security,” the Navy said in a statement accompanying the announcement.
Roxanna Green, whose 9-year-old daughter Christina-Taylor Green was killed in the shooting, was named sponsor of the ship.
“Giffords and the ship’s sponsor, Roxanna Green, are sources of great inspiration and represent the Navy and Marine Corps qualities of overcoming, adapting and coming out victorious despite great challenges," Mabus said.
The future Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) will be an Independence LCS 2-class ship. Funded in the 2012 budget, its construction contract is expected to be awarded in the first half of this year to Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.
For those of you (like me) who are unfamiliar with what an Independence class LCS-2 ship is, the picture above is of one, and here is a description of the ship and its capabilities from Defense Update:
The Littoral Combat Ship is a key element of the Navy's plan to address asymmetric threats of the twenty-first century. Intended to operate in coastal areas of the globe, the ship will be fast, highly maneuverable and geared to supporting mine detection/elimination, anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare, particularly against small surface craft.
The new 127 meter long Independence Class LCS will provide a platform for intelligence gathering, employ surface (anti-ship) and land attacks precision weapons, and operate manned and unmanned aerial and surface vehicles (UAV/USV). To further adapt for specific missions, LCS will incorporate a modular and interchangeable approach, enabling it to be reconfigured to specific missions such as antisubmarine warfare, mine warfare, or surface warfare missions on an as-needed basis. The LCS will be able to swap out mission packages pier-side in a matter of hours, adapting as the tactical situation demands. These ships will also feature advanced networking capability to share tactical information with other Navy aircraft, ships, submarines and joint units.
The Independence Class LCS, built by General Dynamics is designed to offer the largest usable payload volumes per ton of ship displacement of any U.S. Navy surface combatant afloat today -- providing the flexibility to carry out one mission while a separate mission module is in reserve. Its large flight deck sits high above the water, sized to support near-simultaneous operation of two SH-60 helicopters or multiple unmanned vehicles. In addition, the deck is suitable for landing the much-larger H-53 helicopters, should that become a future requirement.
The stable trimaran hull allows for flight operations in high sea conditions.
I think this is a great idea, and I believe most Americans will agree. I bet the sailors assigned to this new American warship will wind up calling her affectionately "Gabby" -- at least I hope so.
Great. So now she has a namesake -- a ship with no purpose for existence, a ship that is likely to never serve in combat because it is literally a sitting duck and which is having the whole program cancelled because it's useless. Couldn't they have named a destroyer or something after her? At least destroyers are real fighting ships, not like this floating turd that spends more time under tow than under its own power.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've been following the LCS program for quite some time. The LCS program makes the F35 program look *successful*. Which, if you follow the disaster which is the F-35 program, makes it more of a turd than a turd -- a hard act to follow, yo!
- Badtux the War Penguin
What better way to honor people maimed and murdered by an act of senseless (and some would say, patriotically inspired) violence than to name a weapon of war in their honor?
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see Gabby Giffords and Christina-Taylor Green receive an honor, but I can't say I find this one all that appropriate.
Badtux-
ReplyDeleteI can't argue with your assessment because I have to admit I didn't even know what an LCS-2 was until this story came out. I had to look it up.
Thurman-
It may be more appropriate than you think. Giffords was a lot closer to being a blue dog than a real progressive.
Thurman, the LCS is more a barge of suckitude than a weapon of war. It'd need to be able to move under its own power for more than a few hours before it would qualify as a weapon of war :).
ReplyDeleteTM, Giffords never met a weapons system she didn't like. That's why Arizona got the Land Combat System contract, the *other* LCS boondoggle. She also was one of the supporters of the Littoral Combat Ship contract because many of its computer components came from Arizona. So it's not surprising the Navy would want to honor her by naming a LCS after her. But I think both Thurman and I are agreed that it's a rather inappropriate act, though our reasons differ.
- Badtux the War Penguin
Thanks for the education guys. I admit, I never heard of the LCS before Ted posted this. So many atrocities to look at, so little time.
ReplyDelete