The Malta Channel, also known as the Sicily-Malta Channel[1] and the Malta-Sicily Channel,[2] separates the European island of Malta from the southern tip of Sicily. The channel serves as a sea route link to Europe for the Maltese. Virtu Ferries takes people and cars from Malta to Italy and vice versa.
The channel has a maximum width of 102 km (63 mi), while at the narrowest point it measures about 81 km (50 mi).[citation needed] Characterized by relatively shallow waters, it has a maximum depth of 171 m (561 ft).[citation needed] The seabed, slightly deeper at the southern Maltese end, tends to rise as one approaches the Sicilian coasts.[citation needed]
In World War II, the channel saw naval battles and was also heavily mined when the Crown Colony of Malta tried to supply the island.[citation needed] For the July 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily, the Commonwealth forces crossed the Malta Channel, while the Americans sailed further to the west.[3] There were earlier naval battles fought between the Knights of Malta and the Ottoman Navy, and also during the Punic Wars.[citation needed]
- ^ Gambin, T. (2008). "The maritime cartography of the Sicily-Malta Channel" (PDF). University of Malta. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
- ^ Reyes Suarez, Nydia C. (31 July 2019). "Sea Surface Circulation Structures in the Malta-Sicily Channel from Remote Sensing Data". Water. 1 (8). Retrieved 7 November 2024.
- ^ Pietrucha, Col. Michael J. (March–April 2015). "Twenty-First-Century Aerial Mining" (PDF). Air and Space Power Journal: 144. Retrieved 7 November 2024.