Sea trials completed for Royal Australian Navy's newest Evolved Cape-class patrol boat

Austal said the Evolved Capes were built with a number of enhancements over the baseline Cape-class patrol boats, improving operational capability and crew capacity compared to the vessels already operated by the navy and Australian Border Force.

Like their baseline Cape-class sisters, the Evolved Cape-class boats were built for sustained operations lasting a maximum of 28 days or covering a range of 4,000 nautical miles in conditions up to Sea State four. They will also retain the baseline Cape-class boats' standard armament of two pintle-mounted 12.7mm machine guns.

The future Cape Spencer is scheduled for delivery to the RAN by February 2026.

Editor's note: Cape Spencer was originally slated to carry the ADV (Australian Defence Vessel) prefix. Like her newer sisters, she will instead be commissioned into RAN service as a warship with the HMAS prefix.