Austal launches second Cape-class patrol boat for Australian Navy

Australian shipbuilder Austal launched the tenth Cape-class patrol boat for the Royal Australian Navy at its Henderson, Western Australia, shipyard on February 14.

Future Australian Defence Vessel (ADV) Cape Inscription is the the second of two follow-on Cape-class boats that will be operated by the Royal Australian Navy.

The first boat, ‘Cape Fourcroy’, was rolled out in December last year and is scheduled for delivery to the navy in April 2017.

The first eight vessels were ordered in 2011 and entered service with the Australian Border Force from 2013 onwards. In December 2015, Austal announced a AU$63 million contract for the construction of another two boats.

Austal’s Cape-class patrol boat is a 58 metre all aluminium monohull vessel, designed to perform border protection and maritime security tasks, with a top speed of 26 knots and a range of up to 4,000 nautical miles.

According to the company, the vessel is capable of undertaking 28 day patrols in (up to) sea state 4 and the ability to launch two boats simultaneously.

The company also revealed enhanced maritime security and anti-mine warfare variants of the Cape at Euronaval 2016, which offer greater capability and feature mission packages that include unmanned aerial vehicle’s (UAV’s), unmanned surface vessel (USV’s) and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV’s).