Northrop Grumman delivers New Mexico sub

Posted to: Military Newport News
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The Associated Press
© December 29, 2009

NEWPORT NEWS

The nation's sixth Virginia-class submarine has been delivered to the Navy.

Northrop Grumman Corp. said Tuesday that the 7,800-ton New Mexico was completed in 70 months, the shortest overall construction time of any Virginia-class submarine.

Becky Stewart, the company vice president in charge of the submarine program, said the New Mexico was completed with 1 million fewer man-hours than its predecessor, the USS North Carolina.

The New Mexico was christened in December 2008 and is expected to be commissioned early next year.

Editors note: An earlier version of this story, which is from a wire service, contained an incorrect name of the Northrop Grumman spokeswoman. It has been corrected.

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These mistakes are problematic, to say the least

Submitted by rjack3054 on Thu, 12/31/2009 at 10:44 pm.

I have more problems with the editor's comments regarding these mistakes than I do with the mistakes themselves. First of all, why is the local newspaper relying on the Associated Press to report on issues concerning one of this area's major corporations and the U.S. Navy? It would seem to me that the commissioning of a ship partially constructed in Newport News and commissioned at the Norfolk Naval Station would merit local reporting, as it has in past articles. Second, it speaks volumes about the Pilot's quality control (certainly never first tier) that it assumes wire service copy is adequately vetted and print ready. The Associated Press is notorious for its institutional shortcomings, not just its abysmal fact checking, but also its appalling record on elementary school issues of spelling and grammar. Finally, I would point out that an editor who attempts to blame someone else for mistakes in his or her area of responsibility is an individual of demonstrably poor character. Unfortunately, this sort of thing is what readers have come to expect from the Virginian Pilot.

Note to editor

Submitted by TooHot4ThoseNot on Tue, 12/29/2009 at 11:50 pm.

I'm wish someone would proofread these articles before they are posted. It is spelled Northrop Grumman, not Grumann. And the VP for the submarine program is Becky Stewart, not Smart.

Thanks

Submitted by david.putney (staffer) on Wed, 12/30/2009 at 12:02 pm.

Thank you for pointing out the mistake, which has been corrected. However, it is worth noting that this is from a wire service. A story such as this is not something we would typically fact check to the degree of doublechecking names against company sources. That, however, is standard practice for our own stories. I will make sure this error gets kicked up the chain to AP so they can issue a correction. David M. Putney, PilotOnline.com.