Bay of Kiel

The Bay of Kiel or Kiel Bay (German: Kieler Bucht, German pronunciation^ⓘ; Danish: Kiel Bugt) is a bay in the southwestern Baltic Sea, off the shores of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany and the islands of Denmark. It is connected with the Bay of Mecklenburg in the east, the Little Belt in the northwest, and the Great Belt in the North.

Maritime traffic entering or leaving the Baltic through the two Belts must enter the bay. Once in, through traffic to the Baltic passes through another strait, the

Kieler Förde, projecting from the bay to the south, is about 17 km long and 1 km wide at its narrowest point. The strategic location was not lost on the founders of Holstein, of which Kiel was intended to be a major city. It became a prolific shipyard, which made it a prime target of allied bombing in World War II. Before the foundation of Kiel in 1242 and the construction of a walled city there, the region could not have escaped settlement, especially by the Vikings. Any archaeological trace of them, however, either lies under the city or was disturbed long ago.

Eckernförde Bay

• 1936 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 2. pp. 1031–8.
• 1972 Summer Olympics official report. Volume 2. Part 2. pp. 162–7, 209–11.

54°31′12″N 10°24′24″E / 54.52000°N 10.40667°E / 54.52000; 10.40667