Portal:Military history of Australia/Units/February 7

HMAS Tarakan (L-3017) was a Tank Landing Ship which was originally built for the Royal Navy and launched on 28 November 1944 as LST 3017. The ship was loaned to the Royal Australian Navy and commissioned on 4 July 1946. She was named Tarakan on 16 December 1948, and served in Australian and New Guinea waters as a general purpose vessel, but was mainly used for dumping condemned ammunition at sea. On 25 January 1950 seven members of Tarakans crew were killed and the ship extensively damaged by an explosion which occurred while berthed alongside naval base HMAS Kuttabul in Sydney. Tarakan did not return to active service and was sold for breaking up on 12 March 1954.