NORTH-East shipyard Swan Hunter marked a turnaround in its fortunes yesterday when the first ship made there in a decade was launched into the River Tyne.

Hundreds of workers at the Wallsend yard cheered as Largs Bay, a 16,160-tonne troop carrier, was painstakingly lowered into the river.

The Mayor of North Tyneside, Councillor Linda Arkley, said: "I am delighted for the Swan workforce and for Wallsend. Hopefully, this will lead to yet more jobs being created on the river."

Largs Bay is the first of two ships - the other will be Lyme Bay - to be designed and built at Swan Hunter, as part of a £140m Ministry of Defence contract. Geordie workers have nicknamed the pair lager and lime.

The yard's commercial director, Norman Brownell, said: "It is an extremely delicate operation launching this ship - a real technical milestone for Swans. Because of development we can no longer launch the ship down a slipway. It has been built in a floating dry dock which will be taken out on to the Tyne, and when the vessel is floated out, it will become a true ship."

The project to build the amphibious Alternative Landing Ships Logistic (ALSL), brought with it 2,000 jobs.

The workforce has spent the past few months constructing the giant hull in 20 pieces. Assembly required some of the world's biggest machines, including the Asian Hercules crane, which lifted a 1,200-tonne accommodation block for 300 people on to the hull.

Work has already started on constructing its sister ship, the Lyme Bay, using an innovative ring system where sections of the hull are welded together like a giant tube of sweets.

The Largs Bay will be moored along the quayside for fitting out and will receive its naming ceremony on August 1.

The ship, which will be operated by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, is the first vessel to be built on Tyneside since construction of HMS Richmond was completed in 1994.

At the time, it was feared the yard's shipbuilding days were over as the company went into receivership with the loss of 2.500 jobs.

But the Dutch Heerema Fabrication Group bought the company in 1995, reviving the yard with offshore work. Chairman Jaap Kroese pledged to bring shipbuilding back.

A TV documentary about his turnaround of the yard will be shown this weekend. Jaap Kroese - Geordie Shipbuilder, is on BBC 2 tomorrow, at 6.45pm