Philip Smart | Adelaide
The United States arm of Australian shipbuilder Austal has launched its third Independence class Littoral Combat Ship for the US Navy.
The future USS Gabrielle Giffords, named after a former US Congresswoman who retired in 2012 after surviving an assassination attempt, was rolled out of the Mobile, Alabama shipyard on February 25, on to a barge for transfer to a floating drydock, and floated from the drydock next day.
The ship will return to the shipyard to continue final outfitting and activation until her christening later this year.
She is expected to deliver to the fleet in 2017.
Gabrielle Giffords is the third ship in a block buy contract with Austal to build 10 Independence variant LCS ships.
Sister ship Jackson (LCS 6) is preparing for builder's trials, and Montgomery (LCS 8) was christened in November 2014.
The LCS program is ramping up in 2015 to deliver two ships per year from the Austal shipyard, as well as two Freedom-variant ships from the Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin.
"This third Independence variant ship of the block buy is the first ship constructed fully utilising Austal's LCS Modular Manufacturing Facility and is launching at the highest level of production completion to-date," said Capt. Tom Anderson, Littoral Combat Ship program manager, "a sign that facility investments are now paying off in schedule and cost performance."