The 110-strong workforce at Rolls Royce Marine Electrical Systems in Northarbour, Portsmouth, are safe in their jobs and will be joined by an additional 15 staff for the next two years.

They will build the electric cables and systems for the two 65,000 tonne Royal Navy ships called HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince Of Wales.

The £20m local contract is part of a larger £235m deal which will build the gas turbines, generators, motors, steering gear and rudders needed to power and steer the vessels which are due to go into service in 2014 and 2016.

Such are the size of the ships that four diesel engines and two gas turbines are needed in each one to create 109 MW of electricity need to power each ship - that's enough energy to supply a town the size of Swindon.

And it will be the skilled Rolls Royce workforce at Northarbour who will be responsible for making sure that all the electrical cabling between the engines and other parts of the ships will all work.

The director of Rolls Royce Naval Marine, Ken Stevenson, said: 'This is excellent news for our people in Cosham (Northarbour). It's the biggest contract we've ever worked. It continues our support of the Royal Navy that we've done for many years.'