The bow of HMS Defender – a Type 45, Baring Class anti-air warfare ship – is the fifth of its kind to be completed by the firm in Portsmouth dockyard.

Work on the vast section of hull has involved up to 600 people and taken 20 months to complete, including the compartments for the ship's surface-to-surface missile and main guns.

The bow will be transported to Glasgow next month, where it will be integrated with the remainder of the £1 billion vessel, currently being built by BAE systems.

John Richardson, VT's project director, said he was looking forward to a successful completion of the mammoth project.

He said: 'I'm very much looking forward to this being delivered well within time.

'Throughout this project we've seen an increase in productivity of 30 per cent.'

The 50m, 1,000 tonne structure will be towed by barge around the coast of the UK to Scotland, where engineers will 'merge' the portions of the ship.

She is expected to be operational and combat-ready by 2009.