General Dynamics NASSCO Launches USNS Amelia Earhart (T-AKE 6)

SAN DIEGO – General Dynamics NASSCO, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), yesterday launched the U.S. Navy’s newest resupply ship, USNS Amelia Earhart (T-AKE 6). The ship is named in honor of the record-setting woman aviator.

The Sunday evening ceremony took place at the NASSCO shipyard. Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) was the ceremony’s principal speaker. Mrs. Amy Morrissey Kleppner, Amelia Earhart’s niece, christened the ship with the traditional bottle of champagne. More than 2,000 people attended the ceremony, including Amelia Earhart’s stepson, George Putnam Jr.

Starting in 1922, Earhart (b.1897- d.1937) made a series of record-setting flights. Her accomplishments include becoming the first woman to make a solo transatlantic flight and the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross awarded by Congress, both in 1932. She also was the first person to fly solo over the Pacific from Honolulu to Oakland, California in January 1935.

USNS Amelia Earhart is the sixth ship of the Lewis and Clark class of dry cargo-ammunition ships for the Navy. NASSCO began constructing the ship in December 2006 and is scheduled to deliver it to the Navy later this year. The T-AKE class incorporates international marine technologies and commercial ship-design features, including an integrated electric-drive propulsion system, to minimize operating costs over its projected 40-year service life. When the Amelia Earhart joins the fleet, its primary mission will be to deliver more than 10,000 tons of food, ammunition, fuel and other provisions to combat ships at sea.

General Dynamics NASSCO employs more than 4,700 people and is the only major ship construction yard on the West Coast of the United States. NASSCO has delivered four T-AKE ships to the Navy and has contracts to build seven additional T-AKE ships. The shipyard is also building a new series of nine product carriers for U.S. Shipping Partners L.P. Additional information on NASSCO can be found at www.nassco.com.

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 83,500 people worldwide and reported 2007 revenues of $27.2 billion. The company has leading market positions in mission critical information systems and technologies, land and amphibious combat systems, shipbuilding and marine systems, and business aviation. More information about the company is available on the Internet at www.generaldynamics.com.