1 Crown - Elizabeth II Maltese Convoys, Silver Proof

The Malta Convoys were among the most costly supply operations of the Second World War. Between 1940 and 1942, the Axis powers sank or disabled enough Allied shipping to bring Malta to the edge of starvation and operational collapse. Operation Pedestal in August 1942 — the most famous of the convoy runs — lost nine of its fourteen merchant vessels, yet the survivors, including the badly damaged tanker Ohio, delivered enough fuel to keep the island's defenses viable. Malta was awarded the George Cross collectively in April 1942, an almost unprecedented honor for a civilian population.

Gibraltar's role as the western staging point for these convoys makes the issuing authority here something more than incidental.