Keel laid for New Mexico attack sub

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., April 18 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman this month laid the keel of the new nuclear attack submarine New Mexico.

"The keel of a ship is its physical foundation. Yet the real foundation -- the spiritual foundation, if you will -- is laid by the men and women who take the raw material and craft it into a fighting warship," said Mike Petters, corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding.

"It's the shipbuilders who breathe life into the ship. With New Mexico -- these shipbuilders are men and women from Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding here at Newport News and General Dynamics Electric Boat -- two companies teamed together to provide the most quality-driven and efficient product to the Navy," Petters said.

"When this shipyard first opened, the number one priority was to build the best and most advanced ships in the world," said Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Va. "Collis P. Huntington would be pleased to see the shipyard he founded over 120 years ago, not only still building ships but the best ships in the world."

Cindy Giambastiani confirmed the New Mexico's bow unit by inscribing her initials in chalk on a metal plate, and the initials were cut into the metal. Giambastiani is married to retired Navy Admiral and former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Edmund P. Giambastiani Jr.

"The men and women who build America's submarines build them as if they were going to sail them -- as if their children were going to be aboard them. Because like the officers and crew who sail submarines, it takes a very defined set of skills to build them," Mrs. Giambastiani said.

The New Mexico -- SSN 779 -- will be the sixth ship of the Virginia class. It is scheduled to be handed over to the U.S. Navy next year, and Northrop Grumman has described it as the most modern and sophisticated attack submarine in the world.