Full steam ahead on submarine’s construction

Stressing efforts to reduce costs and make delivery on time, officials with Northrop Grumman Newport News celebrated a construction milestone Thursday on its latest Virginia-class submarine, the North Carolina.

The shipyard has finished welding the submarine’s four hull sections into a single unit, known in the trade as “pressure hull complete.”

“This is a giant step on the path to deliver the North Carolina,” said Becky Stewart, vice president of submarine programs for Northrop Grumman’s Newport News sector.

Work on the fast-attack submarine is now 76 percent complete and on track for a February 2008 delivery to the Navy, Stewart said.