FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., July 23, 1999 – Newport News Shipbuilding announced today that it has reached a tentative agreement with United Steelworkers of America Local 8888 on a new 58-month labor contract that the company called "both fair and competitive."

Upon ratification by members of the union, the agreement would end a labor strike that began almost four months ago. The company did not make public the details of the proposed contract, pending the union’s presentation of the proposal to its membership and the subsequent ratification vote.

"This tentative agreement comes after much hard work and important compromises by both sides," said Al Little, Vice President of Human Resources. "The resulting labor contract is both fair and competitive. It provides a very good pay and benefits package for our employees, but keeps within the business framework that will allow us to win new work and return value to our shareholders."

The union has not announced the schedule for its ratification vote. However, Little said, "As soon as the agreement is approved we plan to focus our full attention on building the best ships in the world and working to create the types of relationships that will avoid work stoppages in the future."

Newport News Shipbuilding designs and constructs nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines for the U. S. Navy and provides life-cycle services for ships in the Navy fleet. The company employs 18,000 people and has annual revenues of approximately $1.8 billion. Visit NNS on the web at www.nns.com.