Tarakan Island

Template: Infobox Island / Maintenance / image missing

Tarakan is a small island in the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan. It corresponds to moderate expansion of the city of Tarakan. Tarakan is located in the western part of the Celebes Sea off the northeast coast of Borneo. The island covers about 303 square kilometers and consists mainly of marshland.

The productive oil fields made ​​the island during the Dutch colonial era to an important production base of petroleum industry. The Japanese also recognized the importance Tarakans and took in January 1942 in the Battle of Tarakan Island a. It was only on 1 May 1945, the reconquest of the island began by the 26th Australian Brigade Group.

Two Australian Marine landing craft were named HMAS Tarakan. Firstly, L- 3017 from the year 1944. The boat was renamed on 16 December 1948 in HMAS Tarakan. The second boat is the HMAS Tarakan (L 129) from the year 1971.