Gifts for the Admiral

Since last summer, the Justice Department and the House Energy and Commerce Committee have been investigating charges that retired Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, 84, accepted gifts from General Dynamics Corp. while he was head of the Navy's nuclear propulsion program. Last week Rickover's former employer widened the scope of the inquiry. In a letter to Committee Chairman John Dingell, Secretary of the Navy John Lehman said he had named a panel to investigate evidence that Rickover had received gifts from three additional defense contractors: the Newport News Shipbuilding Co., General Electric Co. and Westinghouse Electric Corp. Federal law forbids companies to give presents to Government employees to obtain favorable contracts.

Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, charged that the Navy was trying to divert attention from General Dynamics, which has also been accused of fraudulently claiming cost overruns. Lehman, said Dingell, wanted to avoid disruption of Navy business by setting up a commission to study the problem "to death."

Rickover has admitted receiving "small gifts," but insists he never favored any company. According to House investigators, General Dynamics gave Rickover gold-plated fruit knives and more than $1,000 worth of jewelry for his wife.