Australia: Austal Names Second Cape Class Patrol Boat

 The second-in-series Cape Class Patrol Boat was named Cape Byron during a ceremony held at Austal’s Henderson shipyard in Western Australia on April 28, Austal Limited announced.

The vessel was launched at Austal’s Henderson shipyard in January 2014 and has since undergone final fit out and sea trials, with final crew familiarisation to be completed prior to delivery to ACBPS in the next few weeks.

The naming ceremony was attended by the Australian Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Senator Michaelia Cash, and Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Marie Bashir, Governor of NSW, who officially named the vessel after Cape Byron in that state.

Austal President and General Manager, Graham Backhouse, said: “Over the last 26 years, Austal has designed and manufactured 250 high quality vessels. The majority of them were designed and built here in Henderson. Each vessel has been an important ingredient of Austal’s evolution to a Global Defence Prime Contractor, especially in developing and maintaining the intellectual property, design, manufacturing and sustainment capability that is now embodied in Cape Byron and indeed other vessels Austal is currently producing and sustaining across the world.

Minster Cash said: “These boats are specifically designed for their critical maritime law enforcement role. The increased size, improvements in surveillance technology, and patrolling range of the Cape Class will better support our dedicated marine unit officers to perform their challenging role.”

“Cape Byron is a highly impressive, state-of-the-art patrol boat that sets an important benchmark in marine standards.”

  “The Cape Class program is a major component of this, while the recent award of a contract to design and construct two 72 metre High Speed Support Vessels for a Middle East customer reinforces our ability to compete and win defence work in the competitive global market,” Mr Backhouse said.

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Austal, May 1, 2014