General Dynamics to Christen New Hampshire, U.S. Navy’s Most-Advanced Submarine

GROTON, Conn. – General Dynamics Electric Boat will christen New Hampshire (SSN-778), the U.S. Navy’s newest and most advanced nuclear attack submarine, at a ceremony at its shipyard here on Saturday, June 21, at 11 a.m. Electric Boat is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).

Cheryl McGuinness of Portsmouth, N.H., is the ship’s sponsor. Mrs. McGuinness lost her husband, Tom McGuinness, on September 11, 2001, in the World Trade Center attacks. He was the co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, which was flown into the north tower of the World Trade Center.

The event’s principal speaker is Adm. Kirkland H. Donald, director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion. Cmdr. Michael J. Stevens, a 1990 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, is the ship’s commanding officer.

The New Hampshire is the fifth ship of the Virginia class, the first U.S. Navy combatants designed for the post-Cold War era. Unobtrusive, non-provocative and connected with land, air, sea and space-based assets, New Hampshire and the other Virginia-class submarines are equipped to wage multi-dimensional warfare around the globe, providing the U.S. Navy with continued dominance in coastal waters or the open ocean.

With its construction partner Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, General Dynamics has contracts to build a total of 10 Virginia-class ships; 30 ships are planned altogether.

A live video and audio webcast of the New Hampshire christening will be accessible online at: www.gdeb.com. Webcast coverage will begin Saturday at 10:30 a.m. EDT; the ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. and conclude at approximately 12:15 p.m. The program will be available for on-demand replay for one week, beginning at approximately 2:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday.

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, employs approximately 84,000 people worldwide. The company is a market leader in business aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and information systems and technologies. More information about the company is available on the Internet at www.generaldynamics.com.