THE KIEL CANAL
Although it is a generally accepted fact that the Kiel Canal forms one
of Germany’s most valuable naval bases, it is just possible that its
value in war will be found to be greatly overrated. There is no question
that the size of the locks and the depth of the canal, viz., 36 ft.,
will allow battleships of the greatest draught to pass through; but, to
make the point clear, it is necessary to consider the nature of the
navigable channels leading to both the Baltic and the Elbe entrances to
this great strategical undertaking.
Dealing with the Kiel end of the canal first, the entrance is situated
some seven or eight miles up the estuary leading into Kiel Bay. From
Kiel Bay to the North Sea a vessel has, according to her draught of
water, the choice of three routes into the Kattegat, viz., Little Belt,
Great Belt and the Sound. The first-named could only be used by small
light draught vessels, such as destroyers and submarines. The passage
through the Great Belt, and also that via the Sound, would have to be
navigated by a heavy battleship on a favourable state of the tide. The
least width across the Little Belt is abreast of the town of Fredericia,
in Denmark, where the passage is less than three-quarters of a mile
wide. In the Great Belt the navigable channels are restricted in places
to about a mile or even less in width. Between Helsingor, in Denmark,
and Helsinborg, in Sweden, the Sound is but little over a mile wide and
only about 20 ft. deep at low water. The eastern channel of the Kattegat
has deep water, and the distance between the Scaw, the northern end of
Denmark, and the nearest outlying island off the Swedish coast, is about
twenty-five miles.
From the above showing, it will be seen that the narrow and tortuous
passages which a warship must use if she wishes to proceed from Kiel Bay
to the North Sea present an easy problem to render them unnavigable by
the use of submarine mines. And, again, the narrowness of the entrance
to the Kattegat lends itself to easy watching by the scouts of a fleet
in the North Sea. German naval authorities, of course, realised the
geographical disadvantages of Kiel years ago, and, in an attempt to
remedy the evil, widened and deepened the Kiel Canal.
The Elbe entrance of the canal, which is situated at Brunsbüttel, is
some seventeen miles from Cuxhaven, which, as is well known, is the
Gravesend of Hamburg. The channels between Brunsbüttel and Cuxhaven,
which are very narrow, have a sufficient depth at low water for vessels
of a moderate draught, and the anchorage room, except for ships drawing
but a few feet of water, is somewhat limited. A big battleship, drawing
30 ft. or more, as she would do with stores and ammunition on board,
would have to navigate the distance from the canal entrance to Cuxhaven
on a flood tide, and if required to bring up would have to moor in the
usual manner with two anchors. In fact, the same navigational procedure
would have to be followed after passing Cuxhaven until the ship would
nearly reach No. 2 Lightship at the mouth of the Elbe.
Of course, the Germans have no need to block all the available room in
the Elbe with big ships, for they have many other deep-water anchorages
close at hand. The entrance of the Weser River, from Roter Sand
Lightship to Hohe Weg Lighthouse, and Schillig Road, in the Jade River,
are both excellent big ship anchorages. Turning to available shelter for
smaller craft on the German North Sea coast, this can be found in
numerous inlets and channels from the borders of Denmark in the north to
the entrance of the Ems in the south.
But now we have reached an important point. We know that the long chains
of off-shore lightships along the German coast have been withdrawn from
their stations, and that the navigation lights on shore have been
discontinued. Should German warships, which we may assume are spread
about in the various anchorages already referred to, make a dart to sea,
especially at night-time, there is every probability of some of them
stranding on the numberless flats and shoals which extend for many miles
seaward from the low-lying shore of Germany. And, with the absence of
lights and with mine-sown channels to navigate, getting back on a dark,
dirty night to their havens would inevitably cause destruction to many a
ship, whether large or small. The wilder the weather, the more toll
would this dangerous coast claim. The British cruisers, when chasing
their quarry, would hold the whip-hand. The sounding machine and
hand-lead would tell them when to ’bout ship.
[Illustration: Map of Kiel Canal.
COPYRIGHT: SPECIALLY PREPARED FOR ^The Daily Telegraph^ by ‘GEOGRAPHIA’
L^{TD} 33 STRAND LONDON W.C.
ALEXANDER GROSS. F.R.G.S.]
It is interesting to mention that for two-thirds of the fifty-six miles
in length of the Kiel Canal the banks on either side are practically
flat, and, owing to the nature of the soil, which is largely peat, they
are constantly subsiding into the channel. This, besides necessitating
constant dredging, in order to maintain the great depth of water
required for battleships, forces vessels to proceed at their slowest
speed possible. A battleship would take, therefore, the best part of
twelve hours to get through from the Elbe to Kiel.
In view of the fact that the distance from Kiel to the Scaw, via the
Sound passage, is 325 miles--from Kiel to the Scaw via the intricate
channels of the Great Belt is about 245 miles--a battleship would occupy
thirty-six hours fully, under the best conditions of tide and weather,
to reach the waters of the North Sea. In these days a naval battle can
be decided in a fractional part of that time.