HMAS

Cape Pillar

HMAS Cape Pillar is the sixth of ten Evolved Cape Class Patrol Boats and is named after the south eastern tip of Tasmania, with a ceremonial home port of Nubeena, Tasmania.

Cape Pillar was officially accepted by the Commonwealth of Australia at a ceremony in Austal’s Henderson, Western Australia shipyard on 13 October 2023.

The crew of Cape Pillar then completed three months of training while based at HMAS Stirling and returned to Darwin in December 2023.

Cape Pillar and its crew were officially welcomed to their home port of HMAS Coonawarra with a ceremony conducted at Larrakeyah Defence Precinct, led by Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Liam McMahon on 19 January 2024.

Following the homeporting ceremony, Cape Pillar’s crew were force assigned to Operation RESOLUTE and contributed Australia’s maritime security through the boat’s primary duties of fisheries protection, immigration, customs and drug law enforcement operations.

Cape Pillar is the last of the original six Evolved Cape-Class Patrol Boats the RAN ordered in April 2020 to replace the Armidale Class Patrol Boats in this role. This order was subsequently expanded to include a total of ten boats.

The badge for Cape Pillar depicts the key feature on the cape, a natural rock formation known as the blade. In heraldic terms pillars symbolizes wisdom and fortitude.

The badge draws its colours from the home state of Tasmania’s official colours into the design, in the case bottle green, golden yellow and maroon red.

The motto ‘LOOK FORWARD’ was chosen by the Chief of Navy to denote a focus on the ship’s function.

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 Pillar is the first ship to bear the name in the RAN.