Devonport dockyard is likely to miss out on the �2.9bn ($4.8bn) contract to build two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy.

Work on the ships will be split between BAE Systems and the French firm Thales, it was revealed on Thursday.

There had been speculation that DML, which is owned by Thales, would get a cut of the work.

But the ships are to be built by a combination of four yards - BAE Systems Marine at Govan, Vosper Thornycroft at Portsmouth, Swan Hunter on Tyneside and Babcock BES at Rosyth.

This was never a life or death issue for Devonport Peter Whitehouse, DML

And the vessels will be built in several sections before bringing them together for final assembly at the Rosyth shipyard.

Peter Whitehouse, a spokesman for DML, which runs Devonport, said: "It is somewhat disappointing, but it is not bad news for jobs.

"This was never a life or death issue for Devonport.

"All we can do is sit and wait until the government and the two big companies see how it shares out the work.

The yard has just announced 240 job cuts

"The warships may not be commissioned until 2009 and 2010, and that is a long way off.

"A lot of things could change in that time."

He added: "This is a potentially very complex deal that will require a lot of work in order to create a successful contract."

Devonport had been thought likely to receive the commissioning work, which is carried out after the ship is constructed.

But a defence source said that Devonport was unlikely to get the work.

He said: "It does not make an awful lot of sense to tow a vessel 500 miles from Rosyth to another dockyard for commissioning."

Job losses

There had also been speculation that Devonport might get the work to manage the servicing of the ships after they are commissioned.

But the source said: "It is highly likely that BAE Systems will snaffle the work.

"They are in the driving seat, and they already have a unit to manage these sort of things."

Last week, DML announced 240 job cuts over the next six months.

DML partly blamed the need to cut overheads following soaring costs of submarine refits at the yard.

The yard employs 4,800 staff and is Devon and Cornwall's largest private sector employer.