Editing Kiel Canal (section)

=== Construction and expansion ===
[[File:Germany 1890 - 1914 HU68382.jpg|thumb|right|The official opening of the canal with the imperial ship ''SMY Hohenzollern''.]]
In June 1887, construction started at [[Holtenau]], near Kiel. The canal took over 9,000 workers eight years to build. On 20 June 1895, [[Kaiser]] [[William II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]] officially opened the canal for transiting from [[Brunsbüttel]] to Holtenau. The next day a ceremony took place in Holtenau, where Wilhelm II named the waterway the {{Lang|de|Kaiser Wilhelm Kanal}} (after his grandfather, [[Kaiser]] [[William I, German Emperor|Wilhelm I]]), and laid the final stone.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.kiel-canal.de/kiel-canal/history/index.htm|title= Kiel-Canal History|publisher= UCA United Canal Agency GmbH|access-date= 20 June 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150708211152/http://www.kiel-canal.de/kiel-canal/history/index.htm|archive-date= 8 July 2015|url-status= dead}}</ref> British director [[Birt Acres]] filmed the opening of the canal; the [[Science Museum (London)|Science Museum]] in London preserves [[Opening of the Kiel Canal|surviving footage]] of this early film.<ref>{{Cite web| url= http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/724563/index.html |title= Opening of the Kiel Canal| work= Screenonline| access-date= 2007-03-30}}</ref> The first vessel to pass through the canal was the [[aviso]] {{SMS|Jagd}}, sent through in late April (before the canal officially opened) to determine if it was ready for use. In May, the [[ship's tender|tender]] {{SMS|Otter|1877|2}} also passed through the canal.

To cope with the increasing traffic and the demands of the [[Imperial German Navy]], between 1907 and 1914 the canal was widened by Germany to allow [[dreadnought battleship]]s to pass through, allowing them to travel between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea without having to go around Denmark.  Two larger [[canal lock]]s in Brunsbüttel and Holtenau were installed to complete the enlargement.<ref name="kiel-canal.de">{{Cite web |url=http://www.kiel-canal.de/kiel-canal/history/ |title=About Us: History |publisher=Kiel Canal |access-date=2011-06-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816231716/http://www.kiel-canal.de/kiel-canal/history/ |archive-date=2016-08-16 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Admiralty Chart No 2469 Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, Published 1920.jpg|thumb|left|325px|The canal as shown in a nautical chart published in 1920]]