Over the years, since 1904, more than 600 ships have been constructed at Victoria Road but times are changing for Vosper Thornycroft. Even the famous name is no more as the company is now known as the VT Group, and there is no room for Woolston in the future.

The company's shipbuilding is on the move to a new, purpose built facility at Portsmouth Naval Base, where the new Type 45 destroyer and, hopefully, a significant part of the country's next generation of aircraft carriers will take shape.

Ironically the same reason that brought the company to Southampton nearly 100 years ago is now taking it away from the city - existing facilities are just too small.

Bit by bit the yard is closing down and alongside their tools and machinery many employees are also having to pack up their memories of a yard that has been at the centre of their working life since leaving school.

Among those who can look across the decades is Bob Wallace from Netley, who has clocked up 44 years at the yard next month.

"I came here when I was 15 and for the first year I was a rivet catcher,'' said 58-year-old Bob, who also once attended Merry Oak School.

"In those days rivets were heated up and then thrown up to where we were building the ship. My job was to catch the hot rivets in a tin can, then pick them out with pliers and put them into the hole so they could hammer in the rivet. I remember the first time I heard a rivet gun go I wanted to run away as it was so loud but then you soon got used to the noise.''

Tom Ainsworth from Millbrook, Southampton has been a shipwright at VT for 39 years and reckons he must have worked on more than 80 ships over his time.

"The first vessel was the Royal Navy frigate, HMS Juno,'' said Tom, who has decided to transfer to the new facility at Portsmouth.

"I suppose I am a bit apprehensive, after all I have been here a long time. Some of my mates have taken early retirement and not many of the old timers are going down to Portsmouth but I am going although I shall be sorry to say goodbye to here.''

John I Thornycroft had become established at Chiswick from the 1860s, building a wide range of vessels for the Royal Navy and private owners.

As destroyers for the Royal Navy increased in size, more and more of the upper works had to be left off for the ships to pass under the Thames bridges for completion closer to the sea.

This became increasingly difficult and costly and so, after a great deal of searching, the Woolston yard was found with the advantages that it was close to Portsmouth Naval Base and Southampton's double tides would facilitate launching.

The yard had been opened in 1876 by TR Oswald, a Sunderland shipbuilder. The company soon built a reputation for constructing large iron sailing ships, with the largest, Bitterne, 382 feet long and 5,085 tons, that in her day, was reputed to be the biggest sailing ship to enter the port of London.

By 1900, the yard was in the hands Mordey, Carney and Co, whose first vessel was a floating bridge for the Southampton-Woolston crossing.

During the four years Mordey, Carney and Co were running the works, a total of 34 ships and barges were built.

Shortly before the yard was taken over by Thornycroft, a bad fire caused considerable damage but this did little to hinder the move and from 1904 the company began a run-down of its Chiswick works and new orders were in the main transferred to Woolston.

The initial Thornycroft number to appear on the Woolston register was No 379, a small motor launch known as Albion. However, the first naval vessel to be built at Woolston was the Tribal-class destroyer HMS Tartar, launched on June 25, 1907.

Woolston was soon busy on a combination of commercial and naval work, including two paddle ship cruisers for Thomas Cook voyages up the Nile.

Work for the Royal Navy reached a peak during the world wars, although many ships were built for overseas customers, including cargo and passenger vessels as well as naval ships.

Throughout its time as a Thornycroft yard, Woolston played a key role in the development of naval technology for UK and overseas customers, a position enhanced by the merger with Vosper Limited in 1966.

In recent years, the yard has been the focal point for notable developments including VT's emergence as a world leader in building fibre reinforced plastic ships, the construction of the experimental trimaran warship, HMS Triton, and, currently under build, the world's biggest single masted yacht, Mirabella V.