Virginia, the Nation's Most Advanced Submarine, to Be Christened Saturday

General Dynamics Electric Boat will christen the Virginia (SSN-774), the U.S. Navy's newest and most advanced nuclear attack submarine, at a ceremony at its shipyard here Saturday, Aug. 16, at 11 a.m. Electric Boat is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD). Ship sponsor is Lynda Johnson Robb, daughter of former President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson, and the wife of former U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb (D- Va.) The event's principal speaker is U.S. Sen. George Allen (R- Va.). Capt. David J. Kern, a 1981 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, is the ship's commanding officer. The Virginia is the first U.S. submarine designed to satisfy the requirements of regional and near-land missions in the post-Cold War era. Unobtrusive, non-provocative and connected with land, air, sea and space-based assets, Virginia-class submarines will be equipped to wage multi-dimensional warfare in the farthest reaches of the globe, providing the U.S. Navy with continued dominance in coastal waters or the open ocean. Designed by Electric Boat, the Virginia class is being built jointly under a teaming arrangement between Electric Boat and Northrop Grumman Newport News in Virginia. In 1998, the U.S. Navy awarded a $4.2 billion contract for the construction of the first four ships of the class.