THERE has always been plenty of pride among shipyard workers at the naming of a submarine but when it is designed to fire nuclear missiles the ceremony can also attract hoards of demonstrators to Barrow.

That was the case 20 years ago when the Trident missile boat Vengeance was slowly rolled-out for a naming ceremony by Sandra Robertson, wife of the Defence Secretary George Robertson.

Around 200 supporters of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament waved banners and shouted protest messages from Michaelson Road Bridge.

Among them was CND national figurehead Bruce Kent.

Defence Secretary, Mr Roberston, said that he got involved in politics as an anti-nuclear campaigner.

He told The Mail, at the ceremony on Saturday, September 19, in 1998: "I started out my political career in CND, believing at that time that by Britain acting unilaterally we would make the world safer.

"But when I became interested in the subject I pretty soon lost that idea."

He said that Britain's nuclear deterrent had produced stability for more than 30 years and that the present Labour government had been elected to power with a commitment to to maintain it.

The fourth 16,000-tonne Trident vessel emerged from the Devonshire Dock Hall on special trolleys at a metre per minute.

VSEL shipyard boss Brian George said: "For the Furness area the Trident project has provided thousands of jobs and has made a major contribution to the economy of the region for many years."

The next project for the Devonshire Dock Hall was to be 2,500-tonne blocks for surface vessels such as new Royal Navy assault ships.

The Mail article noted: "The first block — not one of the biggest — for one of two navy oil tankers is due to be completed and delivered to the slipway in October or November, symbolising Barrow's return to building surface navy ships and using traditional slipway launches."