USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE 5) to be Christened at General Dynamics NASSCO February 6, 2008 - SAN DIEGO - The U.S. Navy’s newest resupply ship, USNS Robert E. Peary (T-AKE 5), will be christened at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard on Saturday, February 9. The christening ceremony will begin at 11 a.m., and is free and open to the public. The main gate to the shipyard will open at 10 a.m. Vice Admiral Samuel Locklear III, commander of the Navy’s U.S. Third Fleet, is the ceremony’s principal speaker. The Honorable Peary S. Fowler, a county circuit court judge for Monroe County, Florida, and a great-granddaughter of the ship’s namesake, will ceremonially name the ship by breaking the traditional bottle of champagne against its hull. After the christening, those who attend the ceremony can walk aboard the Robert E. Peary’s sister ship, USNS Richard E. Byrd (T-AKE 4). NASSCO delivered the Richard E. Byrd to the Navy last November. The crew has nearly completed the ship’s post-delivery shakedown period at the shipyard.  Named in honor of the man who led the first expedition to the North Pole, USNS Robert E. Peary is the fifth ship of the T-AKE class of dry cargo-ammunition ships that NASSCO is building for the Navy. When the Robert E. Peary joins the fleet this summer, its primary mission will be to deliver more than 10,000 tons of food, ammunition, fuel and other provisions to combat ships on the move at sea.  General Dynamics NASSCO, a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), employs more than 4,700 people and is the only major ship construction yard on the West Coast of the United States. NASSCO has contracts to build the first 11 ships of the Navy’s T-AKE class and a contract to build nine commercial product carrier ships for U.S. Shipping Partners L.P. Additional information on NASSCO can be found at www.nassco.com. General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 83,500 people worldwide and reported 2007 revenues of $27.2 billion. 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.

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