Japanese cruiser Soya name was taken from the northernmost cape of Hokkaidō, Soya Misaki. After being placed into Japanese service as a 3rd class cruiser, "Soya" was used primarily for training duties. From 14 March 1909 to 7 August 1909, it made a long distance navigational and officer cadet training cruise to Hawaii and North America. It repeated this training cruise every year until 1913. During World War I Russia and Japan became allies and "Soya" (along with several other vessels) was transferred back to Russia at Vladivostok on 5 April 1916, and its original name of "Varyag" restored. Japanese cruiser Soya "Varyag"
Straits of Mackinac the Great Lakes". Islands forming the edge of Straits of Mackinac include the two populated islands, Bois Blanc and Mackinac, and one that is uninhabited: Round island. The Straits of Mackinac is a major shipping lane, providing passage for raw materials and finished goods and connecting, for instance, the iron mines of Minnesota to the steel mills of Gary, Indiana. Before the railroads reached Chicago from the east, most immigrants arrived in the Midwest and Great Plains by ships on the Great Lakes. The straits is five miles (8 km) wide at its narrowest point, where it is spanned by