2002 Battle of Sunda Strait Bi Metal Houston Five Dollar Bronze Uncirculated Coin

The 28th of February 2002 was the 60th Anniversary of the battle of Sunda Strait, in which naval ships, the USS Houston and the HMAS Perth were surrounded by far superior enemy force in Sunda Strait in the Indonesian Archipelago. The Royal Australian Mint has released these collector coins to commemorate this event in honour of those who lost their lives in the battle, those crew members who died as prisoners of war, and those, as captives, who survived the privation and cruelty of wartime interment.

These coins are a fitting tribute to those in the face of overwhelming odds showed outstanding courage in the battle, and in the prisoner of war camps. These two ships after escaping from the Battle of the Java Sea, were seeking safe passage through Sunda Strait, where they encountered an enemy invasion of some 80 odd vessels. Although surrounded and severely out gunned these ships fought valiantly until the end and sank within 20 minutes of each other in the early hours of the 1st of March.

These coins are part of the Bi Annual $5 series commemorating special events relevant to Australia as well as celebrating famous Australian and Australian icons. The Uncirculated $5 coin is a bi - metal finish and has the image of the bell of the Houston, this coin is Aluminium bronze centre and surrounded by stainless steel ring, and is presented in a credit card style plastic holder. There is two different types of packaging for this coin, one with HMAS Perth and the other with USS Houston.