Souda Bay
| Souda Bay Souda Bay |
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|---|---|---|
 Fort Izzedin with the entrance to the bay |
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| Waters | cretan sea | |
| Land mass | Crete | |
| Geographical location | 35 ° 29 ′ N , 24 ° 7 ′ E | |
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| width | 4 km | |
| depth | 15 km | |
| Islands | Souda , Leon | |
 Akrotiri Peninsula with Chania Airport and Souda Bay (right) |
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The Souda Bay is a bay in the northwest of the Greek island of Crete . It is located about 6 km east of the city of Chania south of the Akrotiri peninsula and is part of the Cretan Sea in the Mediterranean .
Geography and usage
Souda Bay is about 15 km long and between 2 and 4 km wide. It is surrounded on both sides in the north and south by relatively high mountains, only in the west a relatively flat isthmus connects the peninsula with the rest of the island. At the entrance to the bay, to the east, there are two small islands: Leon and the larger Souda . There is a fort from the Venetian era on top of it . Opposite the island on the south coast is Fort Izzedin from Turkish times.
At the southwest end of the bay is the eponymous town of Souda . There is the largest natural harbor in the Mediterranean, from where ferry connections to Piraeus are offered. The bay is of particular strategic importance due to its location in the eastern Mediterranean. Parts of the bay are used for military purposes, there is a Greek naval station there, which is used by NATO and the US Navy . The depth of the anchorages between 120 m and 150 m is sufficient for aircraft carriers and submarines to anchor. This is unique in the Mediterranean, so that the bay and the naval port often serve as a stopover for European warships sailing off the African coast to combat pirates , and for other ships patrolling the eastern Mediterranean. The naval defense association south flank of the German Navy was stationed here from September 1990 until it was moved to the Persian Gulf in March 1991. Overall, the Souda Bay is called at annually by naval units with over 75,000 people on board.
To the north of the peninsula is Chania Airport , the second largest airport on the island in terms of passenger numbers, with a Greek air force base. Nearby, also north of the bay on the Akrotiri Peninsula, is the NATO Missile Firing Installation , a NATO missile firing range.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Souda Bay and Port of Souda , meetcrete.com, accessed April 11, 2019.
- ↑ Souda Bay, Crete: A Military Home , tripsavvy.com, accessed April 12, 2019.
- ↑ a b c Strategically important since ancient times: Souda Bay is an important link in the NATO supply chain , luftpost-kl.de, accessed on April 12, 2019.