HMAS Woomera was an Australian naval vessel operated by the Australian Army

Australian Army

The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...

 and Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

 (RAN). She was one of a class of 32 wooden motor vessels built for the Army and entered service in late 1945 as AV 1356 (Ashburton). She was transferred to the RAN on 23 January 1946 and commissioned as Woomera. The ship's main role was carrying stores and dumping obsolete ammunition at sea. In this role she visited many ports in Australia and New Guinea

New Guinea

New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...

.

On 11 October 1960 an accidental explosion occurred onboard HMAS Woomera while she was dumping ammunition into the sea off Sydney. As a result of the explosion the ship caught fire and sank with the loss of two lives. The surviving crew members were rescued by HMAS Quickmatch

HMAS Quickmatch (G92)

HMAS Quickmatch , named for the quick-match, a fast burning match used for lighting cannon, was a Q class destroyer operated by the Royal Australian Navy . Although commissioned into the RAN in 1942, the ship was initially the property of the Royal Navy. Quickmatch served with both the British...

 and HMS Cavendish.