North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between the United Kingdom (particularly England and Scotland), Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. An epeiric (or "shelf") sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north. It is more than 970 kilometres (600 mi) long and 580 kilometres (360 mi) wide, with an area of 570,000 square kilometres (220,000 sq mi).

The North Sea has long been the site of important European shipping lanes as well as a major fishery. It has also featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs. As Germany's only outlet to the ocean, the North Sea continued to be strategically important throughout both World Wars.

In recent decades, adverse environmental issues – commonly including overfishing, industrial and agricultural runoff, dredging, and dumping, among others – have led to a number of efforts to prevent degradation of the sea while still making use of its economic potential.

North Sea in "Ready for the Fatherland"
Only the existence of Britain prevented the North Sea from being a Fascist lake. Nazi Germany and its satellites dominated oil production in the sea, leaving Britain at a disadvantage. In 1979, Britain and Germany reached a deal where Britain would gain limited access to Germany's oil wells, in exchange for Britain sending Military Intelligence agents to Fascist nations, to eradicate threats to Fascist sovereignty in Eastern Europe.