One Sleeve at a Time

Our use of the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits is limited by the Montreux Convention. This has repercussions on our use of the Black Sea. So what happens when access to the Black Sea isn't exclusively by the straits?

Turkey is going to create a canal bypass for the Bosporus Strait:

Turkey will forge ahead with plans for a 45-km (30 mile) ship canal linking the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara to try to ease congestion in the Bosphorus Strait, one of the world's busiest waterways, the government said on Friday.

If access to the Black Sea is only limited through the existing straits under the convention, we might have ourselves a loophole to escape the straight jacket that constricts our options for Black Sea operations by our Navy.

Of course, we'd need another canal to bypass the Dardanelles, too, if my admittedly amateur pondering is correct. But one thing at a time, I suppose.