Editing Kiel Canal (section)

=== After World War I ===
After [[World War I]], the [[Treaty of Versailles]] required the canal to be open to vessels of commerce and of war of any nation at peace with Germany, while leaving it under German administration.<ref>{{cite wikisource |Treaty of Versailles/Part XII |Treaty of Versailles, Article 380}}</ref> (The United States opposed this proposal to avoid setting a precedent for similar concessions on the [[Panama Canal]].<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Platzöder |editor-first1=Renate |editor-last2=Verlaan |editor-first2=Philomène |title=The Baltic Sea: New Developments in National Policies and International Cooperation |date=1996 |publisher=Nijhoff |location=The Hague |isbn=9789041103574 }}</ref>) The government under [[Adolf Hitler]] repudiated its international status in 1936, but the canal was reopened to all traffic after [[World War II]].<ref name="kiel-canal.de"/> In 1948, the current name was adopted.

The canal was partially closed for a period in March 2013 after two lock gates failed at the western end near Brunsbüttel. Ships larger than {{convert|125|m|ft|sp=us|abbr=on}} were forced to navigate via [[Skagerrak]], a {{convert|450|km|mi|sp=us|abbr=on}} detour. The failure was blamed on neglect and a lack of funding by the [[Cabinet of Germany|German Federal Government]], which had been in financial dispute with the state of Schleswig-Holstein regarding the canal. [[German Transport Ministry|Germany's Federal Transport Ministry]] promised rapid repairs.<ref>{{cite news |title=Locked Out: Disrepair Forces Closure of Vital Shipping Lane |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/repairs-force-sudden-closure-of-vital-german-kiel-canal-shipping-lane-a-887759.html |access-date=11 March 2013 |newspaper=[[Der Spiegel]] |date=8 March 2013 }}</ref>