NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING BEGINS OVERHAUL WORK ON AIRCRAFT CARRIER THEODORE ROOSEVELT

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., July 24, 1997 – The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) arrived at Newport News Shipbuilding (NYSE: NNS) on July 8, 1997 for a year-long period of maintenance and overhaul work. The work is valued at approximately $175 million and includes the replacement of all four ship propellers, blasting and painting of the hull, major renovations of onboard storage tanks and miscellaneous systems upgrades.

Theodore Roosevelt, named for the 26^th President of the United States, was built at Newport News Shipbuilding. The company laid the keel in 1981; launched the ship in 1984 with Mrs. John F. Lehman Jr., wife of former Secretary of the Navy Lehman acting as Ship’s Sponsor; and delivered the ship to the U.S. Navy in 1986.

Theodore Roosevelt has participated in missions in Operation Desert Storm and in Bosnia. In Desert Storm, Roosevelt’s carrier air wing flew an unprecedented total of 4,209 missions. The ship also took part in Operation Provide Comfort, in which she played a vital role in protecting and assisting Kurdish refugees fleeing Iraqi forces.

Newport News Shipbuilding is America's largest ship design and construction company. It has produced approximately 800 ships during its 111 years of operations - including Navy aircraft carriers, submarines, and cruisers. The company 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. NNS is also performing some preliminary design and conceptual work on the next Nimitz-class carrier, CVN 77, aimed at significantly reducing the total life cycle costs both of this ship and for carriers in the existing fleet. It is also building nine Double Eagle product tankers. Its 1996 revenues totaled $1.87 billion, with earnings before interest and taxes of $140 million. The current backlog is approximately $3.1 billion. The workforce numbers nearly 18,000, making it Virginia's largest private employer.