
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 7, 1991                   TAG: 9104070215
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                LENGTH: Short

ATTACK SUBMARINE CHRISTENED AT SHIPYARD

President Bush's chief of staff, John Sununu, on Saturday compared the sophisticated weapons aboard the Navy's newest attack submarine with the weapons whose high-tech precision reduced casualties in the Persian Gulf war.

"This was probably the first conflict in history in which technology was actually used to save lives and reduce casualties," Sununu said.

Sununu was the main speaker at ceremonies at Newport News Shipbuilding. His wife, Nancy H. Sununu, christened the 362-foot nuclear-powered submarine.

Montpelier is the 47th submarine and the 23rd Los Angeles class submarine built by Newport News Shipbuilding.

The new vessel contains the same kind of power and technology and surgical accuracy of technology as the weapons the United States used in the gulf, said Sununu, a former governor of New Hampshire.

by CNB