BLACK SEA


Doug-About
Piracy on the high seas pales into insignificance when compared to the confrontations that Turkey and Russia have over the Black Sea.  
Frequently the announcement that a 'steam-roller' is on the way, is preceded by an agreement over this major body of water.  
Occasionally Italian or Austrian fleets get to view this zone, but only after Turkey's demise.  
Please consider, if you need control at this end of the board.

The Black Sea, in the south eastern corner of Europe, is bordered on the north and the east by the USSR, on the south by Turkey and on the west by Bulgaria and Romania.  
It is linked with the Atlantic Ocean through the BOSPORUS, the Sea of MARMARA, the DARDANELLES, the Aegean Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.  
The Crimean peninsula extends into it from the north, and the small Sea of AZOV is connected to it by the narrow Kerch Strait to the east of the CRIMEA.  
The Black Sea contains no major islands.  
It has an area of 420,300 sq km and a maximum depth of 2,210 m.  
The Turks named it Karadeniz ("black sea") because storms tend to arise in it unpredictably. 
It is of strategic importance to the USSR because it has the only Soviet ports that remain ice-free, and it is of economic importance as a trade route, a fishing area, and a tourist attraction.  
The major ports are ODESSA, SEVASTOPOL, Novorossiisk, and BATUMI (USSR), CONSTANTA (Romania), VARNA and BURGAS (Bulgaria), and Zonguldak, TRABZON, and Sinop (Turkey).  
On the east, the Black Sea is bordered by the CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS and on the south by the Pontic range;  neither area has much of a coastal lowland. 
The western coast is much less steep, except where the Istranca and Balkan ranges meet the sea.  
The Crimean Mountains are the only cliffs on the generally flat north coast.

The sea's salinity, is about half that of the oceans and is much reduced where the principal tributaries--the DANUBE, DNESTR, BUG, and DNEPR rivers--enter in the north west.  
Wind-driven currents run counterclockwise, and tides are of little importance.

The ancient Greeks founded colonies on the coast of the Black Sea, which was known in ancient times as Pontus Euxinus.  
After the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the Turks took control of the sea and held it until the late 18th century, when they were driven from their holdings on the northern shore by Russia.  
Russian attempts to dominate the sea were frustrated by a series of setbacks, including defeat in the CRIMEAN WAR (1853-56).  
Several international treaties have attempted to guarantee freedom of passage on the sea. Commercial shipping has been unrestricted since 1829, but the Montreux Convention of 1936 restricted the passage of warships of nations that do not border the sea.

Border territories

Tactics

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