The Navy’s second most senior officer saw the scale of the Fleet’s next generation warships for himself when he started work on part of destroyer HMS Dauntless.

Commander-in-Chief Fleet Admiral Sir Jonathon Band performed the honours on the bow section of the second of eight Type 45 destroyers at the VT Group’s £50m ‘shipbuilding factory’ in Portsmouth.

First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West last month pressed the button in Scotland to start work on the midships and stern of the 7,350-tonne warship, which is being built in segments by VT and BAE Systems before being assembled by the latter.

VT is building the bow, mainmast and other sections of the superstructure, and has assembled most of the bow of the first of the class, HMS Daring.

“What you realise is that we are building what would be a heavy cruiser in World War II terms,” said Admiral Band.

“My last comparable ship was HMS Norfolk, but this is deeper, wider, bigger. Daring is very impressive – and it’s fantastic to see the changes in building her. This is the modern way to build a warship.”

The bow section is 50 metres long, about 13 metres high and weighs in at 1,200 tonnes. It contains the missile silos for the anti-air Aster missiles which the ship is designed around, plus the magazine for the main gun, machinery spaces and messes.

It will be shipped to the Clyde by barge in the spring, once fitting out is completed. The whole ship is due to go down the BAE slipway late next year or in early 2006.

As Daring takes shape, the Sampson radar which will be the ‘eyes’ of the missile system has been hoisted on to a mock-up mast at AMS in Cowes on the Isle of Wight to complete testing.

The radar – housed inside a distinctive dome – is designed to track multiple targets (including ‘stealth’ aircraft) and has anti-jamming features.