THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, July 12, 1994                 TAG: 9407120302
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A10  EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Short :   43 lines

SEAWOLF OVER BUDGET, GAO SAYS THE $2.4 BILLION SUB IS ALSO FOUR MONTHS BEHIND SCHEDULE.

The Seawolf submarine under construction in Connecticut is over budget and behind schedule, according to a congressional report made public Monday.

The General Accounting Office said the sub overran costs by $56 million last year and fell four months behind its revised construction schedule. Despite these problems, the Pentagon said the $2.4 billion sub will be delivered on time.

Design costs on the Seawolf rose by $17 million - or 2.5 percent last year - according to the GAO, an investigative arm of Congress. Construction costs increased $39 million - or 3.5 percent.

Tenneco's Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. in Virginia is handling the design of the first Seawolf. The Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corp. in Groton, Conn., is building the sub.

Although the cost increases are relatively minor, they are only the latest in a series that have made Seawolf an annual target in the defense budget debate. From an original plan to build 29 Seawolfs, Congress has fully funded two and partially funded a third. President Clinton is expected to seek $1.4 billion in his budget request next year to complete the third.

``This is only the latest in a long series of delays and escalating costs that cast doubt on the true value of the Seawolf program,'' said Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., chairman of the House Government Operations Committee.

Not all of those increased costs are the fault of the contractors. The GAO report attributed $223.3 million in construction cost increases to the Navy. Those problems included ``late and unsuitable government-furnished design data'' and the welding difficulty, which stemmed in part from the Navy's choice of a newer, heavier-grade steel for the vessel.

Earlier this month the Senate voted for a cost cap of $4.76 billion on the first two Seawolfs. by CNB