[21] On 29 December 2010, the Navy announced that it was awarding Austal USA a contract to build ten additional Independence-class littoral combat ships.

[22] On 10 February 2012, Naval Secretary Ray Mabus announced that LCS-10, the fifth Independence-class ship to be built, would be named USS Gabrielle Giffords.

[17] Some commentators, including retired Commander Darlene Iskra, the first woman to command a U.S. Navy vessel,[24] and Robert Farley, professor at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce and military affairs scholar,[25] noted in response that several ships in the US Navy, including Henry M. Jackson, Carl Vinson, John C. Stennis, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush were named for prominent politicians who were still alive at the time of the naming.

[24][26] Commander Iskra also wrote in a Time magazine editorial that the still-active Carl Vinson was named for a congressman responsible for barring women from combat roles in the Navy for nearly 50 years.

[24] In connection with the controversy, United States Senator Roy Blunt added an amendment to the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act which required the Navy to report to Congress on how effectively it was adhering to established naming conventions.

[21] On 29 December 2010, the Navy announced that it was awarding Austal USA a contract to build ten additional Independence-class littoral combat ships.

[31] During summer 2019 the ship was equipped with MQ-8C Fire Scout drones and Naval Strike Missiles and from September deployed in an offensive role in the seas off China.