NEWLY - INDEPENDENT NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING ANNOUNCES ADDITION OF FOUR NEW BOARD MEMBERS

January 15, 1997, NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- America's largest ship design and construction company, Newport News Shipbuilding (NYSE: NNS), announced today the addition of four new members to its board of directors -- including a retired four-star admiral, a university president, a former Virginia governor and the chief financial officer of a major publishing company.

The new board members are:

• Admiral Leon A. Edney, U. S. Navy (retired), former Vice Chief of Naval

Operations and Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic. Admiral Edney, a native of Haverhill, Mass., graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1957, received his wings as a Naval Aviator and served for 39 years in some of the Navy's most important assignments. During his career he amassed more than 5,600 carrier flight hours, 350 combat missions and more than 1,000 carrier landings. He commanded the fleet oiler USS Ponchatoula (AO 145) from 1976 to 1977 and the aircraft carrier USS Constellation (CV 64) from 1980 to 1981. Ashore his service included Commandant of Midshipmen at the Naval Academy and Chief of Naval Personnel, before being named the Navy's second-ranking uniformed officer, Vice Chief of Naval Operations, in 1988 Admiral Edney retired from the Navy in 1992 after having served for two years as Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (NATO) and Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Command. Since his retirement he has been active in business and as an advisor to the U. S. Department of Defense on various boards and panels, including as a member of the Roles and Missions Commission from 1994 to 1995.

• Dr. William R. Harvey, President of Hampton University, Hampton, Va.

Dr. Harvey, a native of Brewton, Ala., is a nationally-recognized educational administrator. He graduated from Talladega College and received his doctor's degree in College Administration from Harvard University. Prior to assuming his current position as head of Hampton University, he had served as Administrative Vice President at Tuskegee University, as Administrative Assistant to the President of Fisk University and as Assistant for Governmental Affairs to the Dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. His outstanding service to education has earned him a number of national academic awards -- including the Woodrow Wilson "Martin Luther King" Fellowship, from 1968 to 1970; a Harvard University Higher Education Administrative Fellowship, 1969; and a Woodrow Wilson Administrative Fellowship in 1970. In addition to being an educator, Dr. Harvey is a businessman, through his ownership of the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company in Houghton, Mich., and as a member of the board of directors of Signet Banking Corporation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Virginia and the International Guaranty Insurance Company.

• Gerald L. Baliles, a practicing attorney and former Governor of Virginia.

Baliles is a graduate of Wesleyan University and received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1967. He served as Attorney General of Virginia from 1982 to 1985 and as Governor from 1986 to 1990. While Governor he was very active in economic development, leading trade missions to China, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Taiwan and Turkey. Upon the end of his term as Governor, Baliles reentered private law practice as a partner in the Richmond-based firm of Hunton & Williams. A significant part of his practice has been related to aviation. He has managed the negotiation of a cross-border international alliance, has facilitated USAir's labor negotiations with its pilot's union and has chaired a 2,000-member nationwide coalition to promote expanded air service between the U. S. and Japan. In 1993, President Clinton appointed him to chair the National Airline Commission, which developed recommendations forming the core of the current aviation policy to make U. S. airlines more competitive. Among his other activities in business and higher education, he serves as national Chairman of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and on the board of directors of Norfolk Southern Corporation.

• Stephen R. Wilson, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,

Reader's Digest. Wilson is a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, serving on active duty as a Naval Officer from 1968 to 1972. He received his master's degree in business from Harvard University in 1974, and joined W. R. Grace & Co. as a group leader. From 1976 to 1985 he held senior planning and finance positions with PepsiCo, Inc., including Vice President of Finance for Pepsi Cola USA. He was with Cadbury Schweppes, Inc., from 1985 to 1989, initially as Senior Vice President for Finance and later as President of Cadbury Beverages North America.

Wilson was the Franklin Mint's General Manager for North America from 1989 to 1990. Joining RJR Nabisco, Inc., in 1990, he served first as Senior Vice President for Corporate Development and then as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In 1995 he was appointed to his current position as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Reader's Digest Association, Inc., which publishes the monthly magazine of current events and essays about contemporary American life, with worldwide circulation of more than 16 million readers.

The four new board members join three directors who were named at the time Newport News Shipbuilding was spun off from its former parent company of Tenneco Inc., in December 1996. They are: William P. Fricks, President and Chief Executive Officer, Newport News Shipbuilding; Dana G. Mead, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Tenneco; and Dr. Joseph J. Sisco, a partner in the international consulting firm of Sisco Associates and former Under Secretary for Political Affairs in the U. S. Department of State.

"We are very pleased that we have been able to assemble such a talented and distinguished group of national leaders," Fricks said. "Their knowledge of business, government and our industry will be a significant strength for us as we begin operations as an independent company."

The first meeting of the Newport News Shipbuilding board of directors is scheduled to be held in Newport News on January 16, 1997.

Newport News Shipbuilding has produced approximately 800 ships during its 110 years of operations -- including Navy aircraft carriers, submarines and cruisers. It is currently building the nuclear-powered aircraft carriers Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and has begun work in preparation for construction of the Navy's New Attack Submarine.

The company's 1995 revenues totaled $1.8 billion, with income of $157 million. It has a current backlog of orders totaling approximately $3.5 billion. Its workforce numbers 18,000, making it Virginia's largest private employer.