THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412090590
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
The Navy gave several thousand shipyard workers and the Hampton Roads economy a $2.52 billion Christmas present Thursday, awarding Newport News Shipbuilding a contract for construction of a new aircraft carrier.
The ship, as yet unnamed, is to be completed by December 2002. Shipyard spokesman Tom Olds said that no date has been set for the work to begin but that procurement of materials will start immediately. Contracts for about $1.8 billion for the ship's power plant and other preliminary work had been awarded earlier.
The carrier ``is an essential element of our program to maintain a modern Navy, second to none,'' Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton said in a brief statement.
When complete, the ship will be the nation's 11th active carrier and ninth in the giant Nimitz class. The ships, which carry about 80 warplanes and a crew of 6,000, are the Navy's showpieces and central to its mission of projecting American power around the world.
Newport News is the only yard able to construct the Nimitz carriers, so the award was assured when Congress appropriated funds for the ship in September.
The shipyard said up to 5,000 people will be involved in building the carrier. All will come from the current work force. Yard officials had warned earlier this year that without the project, the facility's workload might drop so low that the yard would become unprofitable.
``This contract is a credit to Newport News and to the fine skills of the shipyard,'' said Sen. John W. Warner, the senior member of Virginia's congressional delegation. by CNB