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 . The resulting report highlighted a consistent record of making " occasional exceptions " to established ship-naming conventions , beginning in 1798 when Secretary Benjamin Stoddert broke with naming convention by naming one of the original six frigates of the United States Navy as . The report also noted that while Secretary Mabus considered honoring Giffords and other victims of the Tucson shooting by naming LCS-10 after the Arizonan city of Tucson , consistent with current naming conventions for littoral combat ships to honor U.S. cities , this was not possible because , an active , currently bears the name
Tucson shooting
2011 Tucson shooting
USS Gabrielle Giffords