Located on the coast of the Yard Bay in the North Sea, Wilhelmshaven is not large, only more than 80,000 people, is a medium-sized city, but it is Germany's deepest natural water port, like Kiel, Wilhelmshaven has become an important naval base in Germany due to its unique natural conditions! Our trip to Wilhelmshaven also amply confirmed this.
We only drove an hour from Emden to Wilhelmshaven, and since we were "playing crazy" in Emden, it was already dusk when we arrived at Wilhelmshaven. My little daughter and I ran from the hotel to the beach and were amazed! See oysters all over the ground! I thought that only Denmark was flooded with oysters, but it turns out that Germany is too!
The area around Wilhelmshaven is famous as a shallow national park, characterized by flat, low-lying wetlands, which are suitable for oyster growth. The average altitude of Wilhelmshaven is only 2 meters, so dams were built along the shore to prevent the tide from rushing into the city!
The next day, we drove the car near the naval base and made a careful "survey" to Wilhelmshaven! The naval base is definitely inaccessible, but near it is a civilian part, there are warships and ships in general! Because it is a shoal, the grassland near Wilhelmshaven grows very vigorously! What a natural prairie! The port's most famous attraction is probably the Kaiser Wilhelm Bridge, which was built between 1905 and 1907 with a total span of 159 meters and a height of 9 meters. At the time it was the largest flat bridge in Europe and is still the largest of its kind in Germany. The bridge is named after Wilhelm I, Emperor of the German Empire, whose grandson Wilhelm II inaugurated it on 29 August 1907. We were also fortunate enough to encounter the "flat spin" of the bridge to open the way for boats, and we can see its function firsthand!
Wilhelmshaven and Kiel are both German naval bases, but Wilhelmshaven seems to have more advantages, the water is deep, suitable for submarines, plus it faces the wider North Sea and North Atlantic, so its strategic position is more important, in fact, look at the heavily guarded naval base. I had never seen this formation in Kiel!
