WARSHIP construction returns to Portsmouth Naval Base today after more than 35 years.
The day marks when production on the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyer starts at VT Group's new £50m facilities.
VT, formerly Vosper Thornycroft, which has its headquarters in Southampton, will build blocks for the first six of the frontline 7,000-tonne vessels so far ordered.
The construction is under the prime contractorship of Farnborough based defence contractor BAE Systems, which started production work at Glasgow earlier this year.
In a ceremony at VT's 33-acre shipyard, naval base Commander Commodore Amjad Hussain will press a button to start steel cutting on a laser cutter, one of several pieces of state-of-the-art machinery.
VT shipbuilding was carried out at its landmark yard in Woolston, Southampton, but the site was too cramped for the new multi-million-pound project.
More than 1,000 staff, many from Southampton, are working on the frontline destroyers.
They range from designers and draughtsmen through to steel workers, welders, electricians and fitters.
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