RUSSIA'S STRATEGIC CANAL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1403, 19 January 1899, Page 8

RUSSIA'S STRATEGIC CANAL.

4». A GREAT WATERWAY TO CONNECT THE BLACK AND BALTIC SEAS.

The expenditures for naval work in manycountries is far greater than ever before,, and the effect of this is shown not only in tho laying down of new ships and the building of ordnance, but also in the creation of naval stations at home and naval bases of supply and repair abroad, and the field of activity has even been enlarged so as to adm'it of the construction of extensive engineering works in the shape of canals for the purpose oi rapid concentration of fleets of war vessels, says the "Scientific American." The most extensive work in this direction is that to be conducted in Russia for connecting the waters of the Baltic and Black Seas, ifte canal will have a length of over 1000 miles, and the primary object is tor strategic purposes, but at the same time it will be of great commercial importance. Beginning at the Riga, the canal follows

the course of the River Duna as far as Dunaberg, and from there an excavation is to carry it from Lepel to the Beresina, along this water-course to the Dneiper, and then down this river to the Baltic yea—over a total length of 1080 miles. By using the rivers the artificial construction has been reduced to some 125 miles. At the ends of this canal are the cities of Riga on the north and Cherson on the south. The latter is to become a great naval arsenal.

; Active operations along the route were ' to be begun during the last week of June, and it is expected the canal will be com- , plcted and open to traffic in four years, at ian expense of 97,000,000. The canal is to have a depth throughout its whole extent sufficient to take the largest battleships, and tho construction will be of such a character that a speed of six knots an hour can be obtained without eroding the bank by tho wash of the steamers. It is estimated that a vessel can pass through the canal in less than a week, and this time may be even decreased, as a much higher speed can be maintained in that pert of the canal which follows the natural water-courses. Along its entire length the canal will be lighted by electric lamps, so as to permit of travel by day or night. Strategically this canal will bo of the greatest importance to Russia, as it will eaable the combined Black Sea fleet, which now has no outlet, as it is forbidden to pass through the Dardanelles, to be united with the fleets of the Baltic Sea without passing through foreign territory. Russia has now ten armored and nine unarmored ships in her Black Sea fleet, which in war time could reinforce the ships in the Baltic Sea, so that in lens than seven days her entire fleet could be concentrated in either sea without being exposed at any lime to the war ships of tho enemy.