In the days of sail the entrance to the Baltic through the Skagerrak and the Kattegat was notorious as “the graveyard of shipping”. The transition from a naval to a commercial port has been accompanied by further growth and the latest figures put the population at over 220,000. The population was only just over 31,000 in the early ’seventies, but by the end of the century, five years after the opening of the canal, it had trebled itself, and in 1917 was over 203,000. Later it became part of Denmark, but the Prussians annexed it when they took Schleswig- Holstein from Denmark in 1866. At one time the town was in the Hanseatic League in the duchy of Holstein.
Directly Germany became naval- minded the port grew rapidly into one of the great naval bases of the world and became the Portsmouth of the German Empire. Yet before Germany aspired to sea- power the place was a sleepy, old- world town. The magnificent harbour is deep, sheltered, spacious and ice- free. Kiel is one of the most remarkable modern ports in Europe. The canal brought the Baltic port of Kiel as near to the North Sea as the great port of Hamburg, on the River Elbe. Before its opening ocean- going ships had to go out of German territorial waters and north of the Jutland peninsula of Denmark to get from the Baltic to the North Sea ports of Germany. The canal is one of the outstanding achievements of modern Germany. Under the terms of the Peace Treaty of Versailles (1919) merchant vessels and warships of nations at peace with Germany have equal rights of passage, although as foreign warships thus pass through German territorial waters, permission for transit has to be obtained through diplomatic channels. Opened originally in June 1895 by the Emperor William II, the canal was afterwards widened and deepened it was reopened in June 1914. Sailing vessels and lighters are towed through by commercial tugs or by tugs belonging to the Canal Administration. The highest speed permitted is 8♱ knots and the lowest is 5♴ knots. Pilotage is compulsory, the canal pilots acting as advisers and the responsibility remaining with the master of the ship. There are eleven passing places and four turning places. The general direction of the canal from the Elbe is mainly north- east to Rendsburg, where it bends eastwards to Holtenau. The canal is owned by the German State and administered by the Reichkanalsamt (State Canal Administration), with headquarters at Kiel. Operated at sea- level, it has two double sets of locks at either entrance. It is one of the most important strategical canals of the world and its commercial traffic is also important. The length of the canal is about fifty- three nautical miles. THE Kiel Canal ( Kaiser Wilhelm Kanal) links the North Sea with the Baltic, from Brunsbuttelkoog, at the mouth of the River Elbe, to Kiel- Holtenau, in Kiel Harbour. The Kiel Canal is 338 feet wide at water- level. She was built at Kiel by Krupp in 1925 and is 468 ft. The vessel approaching is the Persephone, 8,921 tons gross. This photograph was taken from the deck of the Royal Mail liner Atlantis, illustrated and described below. The canal made Kiel one of the greatest naval bases in EuropeĪ TYPICAL REACH of the Kiel Canal between Rendsburg and the entrance at Kiel. The opening of the Kiel Canal in June 1895 by the German Emperor Wilhelm II marked an important stage in the growth of Germany as a maritime power.
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