NEWPORT NEWS, Va., August 12, 1998 – Newport News Shipbuilding (NYSE: NNS) announced today that it has been awarded a contract by the U. S. Navy for the planning for the defueling and inactivation of the submarine USS Narwhal (SSN671). The contract is valued at approximately $11.9 million.

The planning contract includes ordering materials, engineering work and pre-fabrication of systems to support the actual defueling and deactivation. USS Narwhal is scheduled to arrive at Newport News Shipbuilding in early 1999 and stay for approximately 15 months.

Commissioned in 1969, Narwhal had 16 extended deployments including six to the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet, numerous Atlantic Fleet and NATO exercises and three dozen visits to foreign ports. The ship was based in Groton, Conn., after joining the fleet until a homeport shift to Charleston in 1979. Narwhal moved to Norfolk, Va., upon the disestablishment of the submarine presence in South Carolina.

Newport News Shipbuilding is America’s premier shipbuilding company with annual revenues of approximately $1.7 billion and 18,000 employees. The company is the leader in the design and construction of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines for the U. S. Navy.