HMAS

Cape Naturaliste

The Cape Class Patrol Boats were introduced into service with the Navy in 2022 to replace the Armidale Class Patrol Boat.

Patrol boats are a primary enabler of the Australian Defence Force contribution to Operation RESOLUTE. The operation covers approximately 10% of the world’s surface and includes Australia’s exclusive economic zone, which extends up to 200 nautical miles from the Australian mainland and offshore territories. Christmas, Cocos Keeling, Heard, McDonald, Macquarie, Norfolk and Lord Howe islands also fall within the boundaries of Operation RESOLUTE.

In association with Border Force, Australian Fisheries and the Australian Federal Police, Operation RESOLUTE protects against unauthorised entry, illegal fishing and breaches of customs, immigration and drug legislation. The operation supports law enforcement, and preserves the integrity of fish stocks, the marine environment and other natural resources.

Patrol boat crews are typically employed on a range of constabulary duties involving tracking, stopping and boarding other vessels, and sometimes arresting their crews and seizing cargo.

HMAS Cape Naturaliste is the third of 10 Evolved Cape Class Patrol Boats and is named after Cape Naturaliste in Western Australia, with a ceremonial home port of Busselton, Western Australia. Cape Naturaliste was officially accepted by the Commonwealth of Australia at a ceremony in Austal shipyard, Henderson, Western Australia on 4 November 2022, with home porting to Darwin in February 2023. Led by then Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Jeremy Evain, RAN, Cape Naturaliste, alongside her sister ship Cape Capricorn, was officially welcomed to Darwin on 20 June 2023.

Cape Naturaliste has conducted bi-lateral illegal fisheries patrols with Indonesian authorities as part Operation GANNET and border protection operations in support of Operation RESOLUTE. Cape Naturaliste has contributed Australia’s maritime security through the boat’s primary duties of fisheries protection, immigration, customs and drug law enforcement operations. This has included the apprehension of a number of foreign fishing vessels conducting illegal activities in Australian waters.

In August 2024, Cape Naturaliste disrupted efforts to illegally procure sea cucumber and other valuable marine life in Kuri Bay. Alerted by traditional owners in the Kimberley, Cape Naturaliste intercepted the foreign vessels and took 33 people into custody.

The badge for Cape Naturaliste depicts the limestone lighthouse that sits on the bluff at Cape Naturaliste overlooking Geographe Bay, Western Australia.

In heraldic terms a lighthouse is associated with guidance, hope, and safety, symbolising the beacon to navigate through challenges and obstacles.

The motto ‘FIRST TO DISCOVER’ is drawn from the cape being one of the first major discoveries of the French Captain Nicolas Baudin’s expedition in 1801.

Originally an Australian Defence Vessel (ADV), the ship was commissioned into the Navy fleet on 12 December 2024 in a ceremony in Darwin. HMAS Cape Naturaliste is the first ship to bear the name in the RAN.