Sunda Straits Crisis

Sunda Straits Crisis
Part of the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
The Sunda Strait separating Java and Sumatra was the center of the Crisis.
Date 27 August – 10 September 1964 Location Sunda Strait, Indonesia Result See Aftermath
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Indonesia
Commanders and leaders
Varyl Begg Peter Thorneycroft Earl Mountbatten of Burma	Sukarno Subandrio Suwito
Strength
1 aircraft carrier 3 destroyers 2 frigates	full strength of the Indonesian Air Force number of light surface vessels and submarines
Casualties and losses
none	none

The Sunda Straits Crisis was a two-week confrontation between the United Kingdom and Indonesia over the passage of the Illustrious-class aircraft carrier HMS Victorious through the Sunda Strait, a major waterway separating the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra, occurring between August and September 1964. The incident was part of the larger Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, an armed conflict between Indonesia and Malaysia (with the military support of Britain) over the formation of the latter as an independent state.

On 27 August 1964, the British aircraft carrier HMS Victorious and her two destroyer escorts sailed through the Sunda Strait, an international waterway claimed by Indonesia, en route to Australia. Upset by the casual warning the British had given of the ships' impending passage through the Strait (a telephone call made two days before, which did not mention the carrier) and wary of the possibility that the British were attempting to provoke a violent response, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided two days later to prohibit the warships from making the return journey to Singapore, scheduled for the middle of September.

Infuriated by what was perceived as yet another affront to British prestige after the recent landings at Pontian and Labis by Indonesian volunteers in southwestern Malaysia, members of the British Cabinet, particularly Peter Thorneycroft and Louis Mountbatten, favoured sending the carrier back through the Strait in spite of the Indonesian ban. Though British naval commanders in the Far East had grave concerns that the Victorious would be indefensible while in passage, the prevailing opinion was that not to send the ship would result in an immense political defeat on both a domestic and international scale as well as the loss of rights to an important waterway. Tension mounted as the British and Indonesians each refused to bend, and as the carrier's time to sail came, war became increasingly likely.

On 10 September, however, the Indonesians proposed a way out: an alternative route through the Lombok Strait. The British took them up on this offer, to the relief of both parties, and the Victorious made a peaceful return through Indonesian territory. War was averted, and the climax of tensions during the Confrontation had been passed. Never again was the threat of all-out war a realistic possibility, despite some large land battles in northern Borneo the following spring, and the Confrontation wound down by late fall of 1965. It had never escalated into a major conflict, and a peace deal was signed the following year.