USS EISENHOWER ARRIVES AT NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING FOR REFUELING AND OVERHAUL WORK

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., May 22, 2001 - Newport News Shipbuilding (NYSE:NNS) announced today that the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) arrived at the company for refueling and overhaul work. The work is scheduled to last approximately three years and will be the ship's one and only refueling in a 50-year life-span. Eisenhower is the second ship of the Nimitz class to undergo this major life-cycle milestone.

Photo by Stu Gilman

USS Eisenhower Arrives at NNS for Refueling and Overhaul Work

The scope of work is valued at approximately $1.5 billion and includes the refueling of both the ship’s reactors, as well as significant modernization work. Work includes a major upgrade of the island house that will involve the shipyard removing the top two levels of the island house and replacing them. This action is driven by the installation of a new antenna mast that runs down along the island and will provide for better radar capabilities. The shipyard is also integrating a new radar tower aboard Eisenhower.

Maintenance and repair work will be performed below the ship’s waterline to include the application of a new paint system. In addition, the shipyard will be replacing nearly 3,000 valves and overhauling another 600 in various ship systems.

More than 3,500 Newport News Shipbuilding employees will be working aboard Eisenhower during peak periods of the overhaul and refueling project.

USS Eisenhower was built by Newport News Shipbuilding and christened on October 11, 1975 by Mrs. Mamie Doud Eisenhower, wife of the ship’s namesake, President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The ship was commissioned by the U.S. Navy in 1977 and began its first deployment to the Mediterranean Sea in January 1979. Since then, Eisenhower has been a powerful and effective Naval presence for over 22 years.

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 nearly 17,000 people and has annual revenues of approximately $2 billion. Visit NNS on the Web at www.nns.com.