HMAS Tarakan (L-3017)

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HMAS Tarakan in 1948
HMAS Tarakan in 1948
Career (Australia) Naval Ensign of Australia
Builder:

R & W. Hawthorn, Leslie & Co Ltd, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England

(Completed at Hendon Dockyard, Sutherland, England)
Laid down: 7 April 1944
Launched: 28 November 1944
Commissioned: 4 July 1946 (into RAN)
Decommissioned: 1954
Renamed: 16 December 1948 (from LST-3017)
Motto: "Nothing Daunts"
Fate: Scrapped
General characteristics
Displacement: 2,300 tons
Length: 347 ft (106 m)
Beam: 55 ft 3 in (16.8 m)
Draught: 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m)
Speed: 13.5 knots
Armament:

4 x 40mm anti-aircraft guns

16 x 20mm anti-aircraft guns

HMAS Tarakan (L-3017) was a Mark III Tank Landing Ship, or LST(3), built for the Royal Navy by R. and W. Hawthorne, Leslie and Company at Hebburn-on-Tyne in England 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.[1]

On 25 January 1950 Tarakan was berthed alongside the HMAS Kuttabul naval base at Garden Island in Sydney, making good defects prior to departure for New Guinea, when an explosion occurred aft under the mess decks, resulting in the deaths of seven sailors and one dockyard tradesman. A further 12 sailors and one dockyard tradesman were injured. The ship was extensively damaged and never returned to seagoing service. She was sold for breaking up on 12 March 1954.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b HMAS Tarakan. Sea Power Centre Australia. Retrieved on April 27, 2006.