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.

Large map (460 kB).

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.