RUSSIAN OUTLETS TO THE SEA WITH SPECIAL REFEENCE TO THE BOSPORUS AND DARDANELLES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000500030007-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: July 9, 1945
• Content Type: MISC

~,,,, Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/09/13: CIA-RDP08C01297R000500030007-9
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GE No . x.23
Confidential
July 9, 94~'
RUSSI:4N OUTLETS TO Tl-IE SEA
~iTiti~ Special Reference to the Bosporus and Dardanelles
G~uestibns concerni_:i~; Russian access to the sea fall into two cate-
gories:
1) l?roble~r~s imposed by the geographical factors of
location in relation to land and water, climatic
zones, and the distribution of population, resources,
and areas of greatest productive capacity;
2) Problems created and perpetuated by the attitudes
and assumptions of nations v~rith reference to the
control of movement of surface ships en route to and
from Russian ports
1) The geo~2raphical factors.
All ships moving between Russia and the Atlantic by way of the
Baltic Sea must pass through the narrow waters of the Sound or the Belts,
the Kattegat and Sl{agerrak, and the open waters of the P?.iorth Sea. Sweden
and Finland are identically situated with reference to these waters.
Al.l ships moving betvaeen Russia and either the Atlantic Ocean or
the Indian Ocean by way of the 3eediterrariean Sea must pass through the
narrotiv waters of the Bosporus, the Sea of Iviarmara and the Dardanelles3_and
' ii en route to or from Atlantic ports they must also pass through restr~ted
waters betTVeen Italy and Africa and in the Straits of Gibralta~s if en route
to or from the Red Sea and the Iizdi_an Ocean they must traverse the Suez
Canal. Ru;nnania, and at present Bulgaria, are similarly situated with refer-
ence to these waters; and inland countries with access to the sea by way
of the Danube (Austria and Hungary, and to a certain extent Czechoslovakia,
Yugoslavia and Germany) :zre likewise concerned with rights through the
Straits. '
All ,goods and people moving by surface facilities direct between the
Caspian Sea and the Indian Ocean must traverse Iran by railroad, or by
much more costly means of transport by read.
All shi}s moving between Russia and. the Pacific and its sea awns must
pass betti?~~een Japanese islat:ds, or betv,reen i`orea and Japanese islands,
The Arctic Ucear_ affords access to shipping going to and from Russian
ports to a very limited extents except for the minor Arctic ports of IlTOrway
and Finland, %;urmansk is the only surasian port in the entire Arctic which
is ice-free?the year round.. By comparison with P,iorth America, the Arctic
affords even more limited access to nortl-~ern Alaska and northern Canada for
a short season
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These physical factors are so indelibly inscribed upon the earth's
surface that they might be observed from another planet,
Ice is a factor for longer or shorter .periods on all the routes above
referred to, but of course .least in the south--in the Black Sea and therefore
in relation to routes through the Bosporus and Dardanelles, and also in the
Caspian Sea and therefore in relation to the overland connection with the
Persian Gulf.
Russia!s situation is unique among large nations in that it is the only
ccuntriT that has no contact vrith the rest of the vaorld by surface ships
except through narrovr passages, Ships of every other large. country and of
nearly all small ones may start from their own ports on an open ocean, and
at once fan out on divergent routes into the seven seas.
Russians outlets to the sea are seen on the globe as deeply cntra~t
bags or seas. But when one recalls that ocean transport costs usually
about one-tenth as much per ton-mile as that by the most economical land
transport, these Russa..an ports grill be seen to link Russia more closely to
the rest of the world than do most of itsland connections. Cost-distances
in transport, and time-distances in cornmunications?and travel., are more
significant than mere space-distances on tr:e globe.
(a) Th~~ Bosporus and Dardanelles routes. The route through Turkish
waters, connecting the Black Sca wi.t,h the Tu_:;dit,erra.nean, is more than 160
miles long, (S~e the accompanying map.) The $osporus is about l7 miles in
length, var~ring from 0~5 to 1,5 miles vride and from 2U to bb fathoms in
depth, Tlie route through the Sea of i~armara is 110 miles long; there are
tv,o principal island groups, anci.tvvo single islands. The Dardanelles is 35
mhos in length, 0'7 to 4 miles wide, averaging 2 miles, and 25 to 55 fathoms
deep. There is a strong surface current fro.n~ the Bl~,cl~: Sea to the Aegean,
especially in sununer, occasioned by the discharge of vrater into the Black Sea
from the great Russian rivers and the Danube and the lov~rer water level of the
Pdieditei-ranean due to evaporation in its eastern basin. In summer the
current is strengthened by the prevailing north and northeast v~rinds, but in
v^;inter the winds fro;T, the southwest dacr~ase its velocity. Currents up to
l; knots arc sometimes met by counter currents of some force. Ir. a hard
v~rinter the Bosporus majr fr~az:;, and in more rri.ld wint::rs ice enters it from
the ~laci: Sea. Storms and fog may be encountered at the Black Sea entrance
of the Bosporus, but southward, in the Sea of i.~~armara and the Dardanelles,
the vreather is generall~r fine. '1'h~ engagement of pilots is required by the
Turkish Government.
The ~,hysical capacity o7' the Bosporus-Darcianellas route greatly exceeds
the maximum shipping of aa_1 nations tl-.at may now be anticipated, The Straits
of uibraltar arc 7.75 rnil~s v.~ide at the narrowest point, ~:nd the channels
betv~een Sicily and Africa much vrider, so that there is no physical limit to
the shipping through the h~editerranean to the Atlantic. The Suez Canal,
S'7~5 miles long, v~rith a .minimum depth of about 36 fact, accommodated
36,491,332 tons of shipping in 1937.
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The Russian ar~:a tri.but~~.ry to the ~~lacl?: Sea embraces all of southern
and much of central European Russia acid southvrestern Asiatic Russia. In it
are located .the great grain producing regions, most of Russians industrial
plants, and well more than half of Russians population,- Russian trade ?
through tide Bosporus and Dardanelles increased steadily until three years
prior to the outbreak of the war, when i.nterr~a~. economy and policy materially
reduced it,
British snipping through the Dardanelles and Bosporus has often exceeded
treat of Russia, `
(b) The Baltic-North Sea route. All ships frcnL the Baltic Sea and .its
tributary arms~Gulf of Bothnia, Finland. and Riga) must go out through the
lotiver end of the Baltic (ab.out 50 miles v~ride at its narrowest point between
Germany and Sweden), and thence by either of three channels, the Sound
(betv~rcen Sweden a.nd the lar~,est Danish island, Sjaclla_nd), the Great Belt
or the Little Belt (both v~rholly be,tvvean Danish territories), thence into
the l~attcgat (bets?recn Dennk:.r'..c and Svreden) azd the Sl:agarrak (b~tvr~en
Denmark and Norway), into Lh; North Sea,
.The Sound,, or ~7resund, vvhicl'i is about 56 miles long, has a minimum
ti?,ridth of 2 miles and a minimum depth .of 6 to 9 fathoms. The Great Belt,
62 miles long, is the most used of the three courses, and leas a rd.nimum
t?5~idth of navigable chan_~el of about 200 yards tc one-half mile;, vrith a `
depth of ~~bout 7 fatho;ns. The Little Belt, adjacent to ti:e Danish peninsula.,
is only about n00 yards vr~de