For generations, the streets around the Southampton shipyard were thronged with workers but now they are empty, construction sheds and workshops have been razed while the quayside, once bustling with activity, is deserted.

More than five years ago Vosper Thornycroft, now known as VT, turned its back on the site on which the company had prospered since the early part of the last century and transferred its shipbuilding operation to Portsmouth.

Soon a new development, transforming the Woolston waterfront, will rise on the vast, empty space that is all that remains of where some of Britain’s most famous vessels were designed, built and launched.

It was here that Union Jack-waving crowds gathered for the traditional naming and launching ceremony as a military band played and the yard’s latest vessel slid down the slipway into the River Itchen. There was a saying in the Royal Navy that if you were serving on a Thornycroft-built ship then you were serving on a well-built and sound vessel.

The JI Thornycroft shipyard delivered its first ship to the Royal Navy, HMS Tartar in 1906 while a further 37 destroyers were constructed at the yard in the years leading up to 1914.

The Woolston shipyard was bombed and damaged several times during the Second World War, probably because the Supermarine factory, home of the Spitfire, was almost next door on the River Itchen and Southampton was a major port.

Despite the attention of enemy bombers Thornycroft built a large and varied number of ships during the war from minelayers, destroyers and corvettes, to landing craft and RAF rescue launches.

It was in 1966 that Vosper, renowned for its production of high speed craft and torpedo boats, merged with Thornycroft and set the new company on course for success not only in building vessels for the home market but also gaining an enviable reputation for quality and innovation with overseas Navies.