USS US Shipping Partners

SAN DIEGO, Dec. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- General Dynamics NASSCO, a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Dynamics (NYSE:GD), today held a keel- laying ceremony for the first ship of its new class of product carriers (PC-1). The ship is being built for U.S. Shipping Partners (NYSE:USS) and is scheduled to be delivered in early 2009. The PC-1 class ship will be 600 feet long, displace about 49,000 deadweight tons and have a cargo capacity of 331,000 barrels. The ship is based on a design of DSEC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering of Okpo, Korea. Through its April 2006 agreement with DSEC, NASSCO has received detail designs and some components necessary to build the ship. NASSCO began construction of the ship in August. U.S. Shipping Partners previously announced that the ship will be named Golden State, the state nickname of California. General Dynamics NASSCO employs more than 4,600 people and is the only major ship construction yard on the West Coast of the United States. In addition to the PC-1 program, the San Diego shipyard has contracts to build nine T-AKE class dry cargo-ammunition ships for the U.S. Navy, and an agreement to build up to five additional ships. More information about NASSCO can be found at http://www.nassco.com/. General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Va., employs approximately 83,000 people worldwide and anticipates 2007 revenues of more than $27 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 online at http://www.generaldynamics.com/. DATASOURCE: General Dynamics NASSCO CONTACT: Karl D. Johnson of General Dynamics NASSCO, +1-619-544-8860, Cell, +1-619-756-5039, Web site: http://www.nassco.com/ http://www.generaldynamics.com/

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