Instead, it kicked off a round of merger mania that ended six months later with Avondale in the arms of a suitor unforeseen that January, and Newport News Shipbuilding standing alone.
History shows the deal was far from done.
Instead, it kicked off a round of merger mania that ended six months later with Avondale in the arms of a suitor unforeseen that January, and Newport News Shipbuilding standing alone. There is also a little bit of history to consider. General Dynamics, which already owned three of the country's six big yards, kicked off the last round of the shipyard tango with an unsolicited play for Newport News a month after the yard announced its marriage to Avondale. General Dynamics withdrew its bid in April 1999, after the Pentagon said it would oppose the merger. If General Dynamics buys Newport News, the yard count would be Northrop Grumman two, General Dynamics four, among them the country's two nuclear yards.