USS Virginia is shown here being rolled out at Electric Boat in early August, in preparation for a 16 August christening. If she stays on schedule, and so far she is, this lead unit of a new class will join the fleet in June 2004. The US Navy has just awarded Electric Boat and Newport News a contract for up to six Virginia-class SSNs using a new “block-buy” contract, a type of multi-year contract that will allow for considerable cost savings to the Navy and the ship-builder. BT Back to The Naval Sitrep # 25 Table of Contents Back to Naval Sitrep List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Larry Bond and Clash of Arms. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history and related articles are available at http://www.magweb.com