Editing Kotlin Island (section)

==Geography==
In general outline, the island forms an elongated triangle; {{convert|12.1|km|mi|abbr=on}} long by about {{convert|1.6|km|mi|1|abbr=on}} broad, with its base towards St Petersburg. The eastern or broad end is occupied by the city of Kronstadt, and [[shoal]]s extend for {{convert|2.4|km|mi|1|abbr=on}} from the western point of the island to the rock on which the Tolbaaken [[lighthouse]] is built.<ref name=EB1911/>

The island thus divides the seaward approach to St Petersburg into two channels; that on the northern side is obstructed by shoals which extend across it from Kotlin to [[Lisiy Nos]]; the southern channel, the highway to the former capital, is narrowed by a spit which projects from opposite [[Lomonosov, Russia|Lomonosov]] on the Russian mainland, and, lying close to Kronstadt, has been historically strongly guarded by [[artillery battery|batteries]].<ref name=EB1911/>

The naval approach to Saint Petersburg was greatly facilitated by the construction in 1875–85 of a [[canal]], {{convert|7|m|ft|abbr=on}} deep, through the shallows,<ref name=EB1911/> whereas cars can travel overland to the island by using the [[Saint Petersburg Dam]] from the north and south shores of the [[Gulf of Finland]]. Started in 1980, but delayed by political upheaval in the 1990s, the dam project was completed in 2010 and officially commissioned in 2011.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/12/54579666.html| title=St. Petersburg gets protecting dam| publisher=[[Voice of Russia]]| date=12 August 2011| access-date=14 August 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120908172747/http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/08/12/54579666.html| archive-date=8 September 2012| url-status=dead}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="160px">
File:Kronstadt1June1942.jpg|Luftwaffe aerial reconnaissance photo of Kotlin Island, 1 June 1942
File:Песчаный пляж на северном берегу.jpg|Beach in west Kotlin Island
</gallery>