History of the North Sea the North Sea though they saw little action. The Austro-Prussian War (1866) resulted in Prussia's gaining full control of the Kiel Canal, allowing their Baltic ports access to the North Sea. France declared war on Prussia 19 July 1870 which initiated the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). The French Navy was, at the time far larger and superior to the North German Federal Navy, the Navy of the North German Confederation. Though the French did take a number of merchant ships bound to and from North Germany, shortages of manpower and coal, as well as conflicting orders, made the attempted blockade of
White Sea–Baltic Canal submarines K-3, S-101 and S-102, L-22, etc. Some unfinished submarines from Leningrad's Baltic Shipyard and Gorky's (Krasnoye Sormovo shipyard) to the new Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk. Since then, the canal has been regularly used for delivering submarines, by transporter dock, from the Baltic Shipyard and Krasnoye Sormovo to Sevmash for completion. The canal system includes five hydroelectric power generating plants, with the total production capacity of 240 MW. The canal was commemorated by the Soviet Belomorkanal cigarette brand. There was a monument for the prisoners who perished during the construction at Povenets, and a smaller memorial in Belomorsk near to