The new facility is already in operation and VT will complete all operations at Woolston by early next year.

Most of the Woolston workforce have already moved to the new facility. The final ships to be launched at Woolston include the world's largest single masted yacht, Mirabella V , currently under build, and a trio of small ferries.

HMS Mersey completes a history of RN shipbuilding at Woolston which dates to 25 June 1907, when the destroyer HMS Tartar was launched by the former John I Thornycroft company. Thornycroft had moved his yard to the South Coast from Chiswick on London's River Thames when the ever larger RN destroyers he built were unable to pass under London's bridges without more of the upper works needing to be left off. The Woolston site was already a shipyard and for Thornycroft it was conveniently close to Portsmouth Naval Base and Southampton's double tides facilitated launching.

HMS Mersey is the third of an initial batch of three 79.75 LOA River Class Offshore Patrol Vessels built under an unusual financing agreement in which the boats are built to VT's own account and chartered to the RN for an initial period of five years.

During this period, the ships will be fully supported by VT's Integrated Logistics organisation.

The move is expected to save the British Ministry of Defence some £10m a year and VT is hoping that further orders for the River Class will follow under a similar arrangement. The River Class are being used mainly for fishery protection duties and can also be used for roles linked to Exclusive Economic Zones.

The ships have machinery control systems provided by VT Controls, the latest in navigation and communications equipment, and also carry two Halmatic Pacific 22 Mk II boarding and rescue boats with dedicated single-man operation davits and RIB tracking systems.

MJ Information No: 18404