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How did the Kiel Canal help ships avoid sailing around Jutland?

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View of Utrecht's Oude Gracht canal lined with historic brick buildings, arched doorways at water level, and boats moored along the canal edge in the Netherlands. — canals and inland waterways The *Oudegracht* (Old Canal), Utrecht, Netherlands.

The Kiel Canal provides a direct, 98-kilometer waterway connecting the North Sea and the Baltic Sea across northern Germany.1

By cutting through the base of the Jutland peninsula, the canal eliminates the need for ships to travel the long, hazardous route northward around the peninsula. Before the canal's construction, vessels moving between the two seas were forced to navigate around the northern tip of Denmark, a journey that involved passing through the Skagerrak and Kattegat straits.123

Completed in 1895, the canal serves as the shortest, safest, and most economical shipping route for maritime traffic, significantly increasing efficiency by bypassing the lengthy detour around the Danish landmass.1