Gabby Giffords to get ship named for her — joining Martha Washington

Eliza Collins | The Republic | azcentral.com

WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-08, is getting a Navy combat ship named after her — the first living woman since Martha Washington to be the namesake of a warship.

She’ll be joined by some other trailblazing women at the commissioning of the USS Gabrielle Giffords on Saturday in Galveston, Texas: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Second Lady Jill Biden will attend the ceremony.

Giffords was shot during a constituent event in Tucson, Ariz. in 2011. She survived the assassination attempt, but it left her disabled and she resigned from her seat in Congress. On the same day she announced her retirement then-Navy secretary Ray Mabus told her the Navy planned to name a warship in her honor.

The district that Giffords represented has a large military presence and she served on the House Armed Services Committee when she was in Congress. That seat is now held by GOP Rep. Martha McSally, who was the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat.

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