The ship was laid down on 7 April 1944 for the RN by R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company at Hebburn-on-Tyne in England, launched on 28 November 1944 as LST 3017, and completed at Hendon Dockyard in Sutherland.

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 21 November 1947 nine soldiers were injured during an ammunition dumping operation when a box of fuses exploded while the ship was 20 miles (32 km) off the Sydney Heads.

[3] On 25 January 1950, Tarakan was berthed alongside 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.

[4][5] In April that year the coroner ruled that the explosion was accidental, and most likely caused by an electric arc from a fan in a compartment of the ship which had filled with petrol fumes.