Vitiaz Strait is a strait between New Britain and the

Huon Peninsula Huon Peninsula is a large rugged peninsula on the island of New Guinea in Morobe Province, eastern Papua New Guinea. It is named after French explorer Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec. The peninsula is dominated by the steep Saruwaged and Finisterr ...

, northern

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

. The Vitiaz Strait was so named by Nicholai Nicholaievich Mikluho-Maklai to commemorate the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

n corvette '' Vitiaz'' in which he sailed from October 1870 by way of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

and the Pacific Islands reaching

Astrolabe Bay Astrolabe Bay is a large body of water off the south coast of Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, located at . It is a part of the Bismarck Sea and stretches from the Cape Iris in the south to the Cape Croisilles to the north. It was discovered ...

in September 1871.

Hydrography

The 1200 m deep Vitiaz Strait "was a focus of attention by Australian and USA oceanographers on voyages in 1985, 1986, 1988, 1991 and 1992 as part of the Western Equatorial Pacific Ocean Circulation Study, WEPOCS". The New Guinea Coastal Undercurrent transports "high-salinity, low-tritium, high-oxygen, low-nutrient water from the

Solomon Sea The Solomon Sea is a sea located within the Pacific Ocean. It lies between Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. Many major battles were fought there during World War II. Extent The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of ...

northwestward along the north coast of Papua New Guinea through the Vitiaz Strait". However, the surface layer current running through the strait, the New Guinea Coastal Current, experiences a seasonal reversal. In boreal summer (northern hemisphere summer) characterized by the south-easterly monsoon, the westward current dominates; during boreal winter (northern hemisphere winter) under the influence of the northwesterly monsoonal winds, the eastward flow dominates.

European encounters

Abel Tasman Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first known European explorer to reach New ...

sighted Umboi Island in the Vitiaz Strait in 1643 but failed to realise that the Strait separated the island from the coast of New Guinea.

William Dampier William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnav ...

charted the passage now named Dampier Strait between Umboi Island and New Britain in 1700 Dampier had established that the land mass he named New Britain was an island. As he sailed northwesterly through the passage, Dampier charted and named various islands which lay between the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits: Sir George Rook's Island (later Rooke Island, now Umboi Island), Long Island (Arop Island) and

Crown Island A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

World War II

During the New Guinea Campaign (1942-1945), control of the Vitiaz Strait took on strategic military importance. The Japanese landed two battalions at Lae and

Salamaua Salamaua () was a small town situated on the northeastern coastline of Papua New Guinea, in Salamaua Rural LLG, Morobe province. The settlement was built on a minor isthmus between the coast with mountains on the inland side and a headland. The c ...

on the

Huon Gulf Huon Gulf is a large gulf in eastern Papua New Guinea. It is bordered by Huon Peninsula in the north. Both are named after French explorer Jean-Michel Huon de Kermadec. Huon Gulf is a part of the Solomon Sea. Its northern boundary is marked by ...

on 8 March 1942 giving them control of the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits. Japanese forces lost control of the Vitiaz and Dampier Straits after the capture of

Finschhafen Finschhafen is a town east of Lae on the Huon Peninsula in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. The town is commonly misspelt as Finschafen or Finschaven. During World War II, the town was also referred to as Fitch Haven in the logs of some U.S ...

by Australian troops and the later landing of American forces on New Britain (December 1943). General Douglas MacArthur announced that Rooke Island (now called Umboi Island) had been occupied on Saturday 12 February 1944 by American forces who met no opposition. Allied control was made secure by landings in the

Admiralty Islands The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 18 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-co ...

on 29 February 1944.John Coates 'New Guinea Campaign' in Peter Dennis, Jeffrey Grey, Ewan Morris, Robin Prior and Jean Bou (eds) (2009) ''The Oxford Companion Australian Military History''

Notes

{{Authority control Straits of Papua New Guinea Bismarck Sea