SAN DIEGO, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- General Dynamics NASSCO, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), today began construction of the tenth ship of the U.S. Navy's T-AKE program. The ship will be named later and is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in the third quarter of 2010.

The T-AKE ship incorporates international marine technologies and commercial ship-design features, including an integrated electric-drive propulsion system to minimize operating costs over its projected 40-year service life. The primary mission of the ships is to deliver as much as 10,000 tons of food, ammunition, fuel and other provisions to combat ships at sea. NASSCO has delivered the first five ships of the T-AKE class and has construction contracts for five additional ships. The Navy is expected to order the construction of a total of 14 ships.

Located in San Diego, NASSCO employs more than 4,800 people and is the only major ship construction yard on the West Coast of the United States. In addition to the T-AKE program, the shipyard is building the first three product carriers under a nine-ship order from U.S. Shipping Partners L.P. More information on NASSCO can be found at http://www.nassco.com.

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 84,600 people worldwide and anticipates 2008 revenues of approximately $29.5 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 http://www.generaldynamics.com.

SOURCE General Dynamics NASSCO