Admiralty Inlet is a

strait A strait is a water body connecting two seas or water basins. The surface water is, for the most part, at the same elevation on both sides and flows through the strait in both directions, even though the topography generally constricts the ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

connecting the eastern end of the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's main outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The Canada–United States border, international boundary between Canada and the ...

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

. It lies between

Whidbey Island Whidbey Island (historical spellings Whidby, Whitbey, or Whitby) is the largest of the islands composing Island County, Washington, Island County, Washington (state), Washington, in the United States, and the largest island in Washington stat ...

and the northeastern part of the

Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large peninsula in Western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...

Boundaries

It is generally considered to be the northern part of Puget Sound's Main Basin. Its northern boundary is defined as a line running between Point Wilson and

Point Partridge Point Partridge () is the most westerly point of Whidbey Island, the largest island in Puget Sound. The point lies north of the Fort Ebey military reservation and south of West Beach. The primary importance of Point Partridge is as the northern ...

, and it extends south to the southern end of

and

Point No Point Point No Point () is an outcropping of land on the northeast point of the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington (U.S. state), Washington, the United States. It was the location of the signing of the Point No Point Treaty and is the site of the Point No ...

on the

Kitsap Peninsula The Kitsap Peninsula () lies west of Seattle across Puget Sound, in Washington state in the Pacific Northwest. Hood Canal separates the peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula on its west side. The peninsula, a.k.a. "Kitsap", encompasses all of Kits ...

, where it joins the Central Basin of Puget Sound's Main Basin. Admiralty Inlet's area is , with a volume of . Its shoreline is in length. Its mean depth is .Features Of Puget Sound Region: Oceanography And Physical Processes
Chapter 3 of th

King County Department of Natural Resources, Seattle, Washington, 2001. Though only wide at the narrowest point (between the Point Wilson and Admiralty Head Lighthouse, Admiralty Head lighthouses), it is through this passage that nearly all the seawater flows into and from

during daily

tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

variations. Tidal currents can reach six

knot A knot is an intentional complication in Rope, cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including List of hitch knots, hitches, List of bend knots, bends, List of loop knots, loop knots, ...

s in the area northeast of Point Wilson. All sea vessels must pass through Admiralty Inlet to enter or leave Puget Sound, except those small enough to use

Deception Pass Deception Pass (; ) is a strait separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island, in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It connects Skagit Bay, part of Puget Sound, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A pair of bri ...

Swinomish Channel The Swinomish Channel is an long salt-water channel in Washington state, United States, which connects Skagit Bay to the south and Padilla Bay to the north, separating Fidalgo Island from mainland Skagit County. The Swinomish Channel is the s ...

. This fact led to the selection of

Port Townsend Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition ...

on the Quimper Peninsula as the official port of entry for the Puget Sound region during the early days of commerce in the area. It also led to the federal decision in the late 1890s to construct

Fort Worden Fort Worden Historical State Park is located in Port Townsend, Washington, on originally known as Fort Worden, a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps base constructed to protect Puget Sound from invasion by sea. Fort Worden was named afte ...

Fort Casey Fort Casey was a 19th-century defensive fortification built on Whidbey Island, Island County, Washington, to deter invasion from the sea. It is preserved as Fort Casey Historical State Park, a Washington state park and historic district with ...

, and

Fort Flagler Fort Flagler Historical State Park is a public recreation area that occupies the site of Fort Flagler, a former United States Army fort at the northern end of Marrowstone Island in Washington. The state park occupies south of the entrance to ...

around Admiralty Inlet as a "Triangle of Fire" for the protection of Puget Sound from a hostile fleet. The first Europeans to find and map Admiralty Inlet were the Spanish of the 1790 expedition of

Manuel Quimper Manuel Quimper Benítez del Pino (c. 1757 – April 2, 1844) was a Spanish Peruvian explorer, cartographer, naval officer, and colonial official. He participated in charting the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Sandwich Islands in the late 18th ...

. It was Quimper's pilot, Juan Carrasco, who sighted the inlet. Thinking it was a bay he named it ''Ensenada de Caamaño'', after the Spanish naval officer

Jacinto Caamaño Jacinto Caamaño Moraleja, OC (September 8, 1759 – November 29, 1829) was a Spanish explorer who was the leader of the last great Spanish exploration of Alaska (then Russian America) and the British Columbia Coast. Explorations A few years lat ...

. Two years later Admiralty Inlet was given its present name by

George Vancouver Captain (Royal Navy), Captain George Vancouver (; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer best known for leading the Vancouver Expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern West Coast of the Uni ...

, after his ultimate commanders, the

Board of Admiralty The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...

. The Spanish name was later given to

Camano Island Camano Island is a large island in Possession Sound, a section of Puget Sound. It is part of Island County, Washington, and is located between Whidbey Island and the mainland (Snohomish County) by the Saratoga Passage to the west and Port Sus ...

Present day

Today a great deal of maritime freight traffic passes through Admiralty Inlet to the major shipping ports at

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and

Tacoma Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, northwest of Mount ...

, and of

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

vessels to the Naval facilities in Puget Sound. The Keystone-

run of the

Washington State Ferries Washington State Ferries (WSF) is a public ferry system in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is a division of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and operates 10 routes serving 20 terminals within Puget ...

crosses the inlet and serves as a link for State Route 20. A

tidal power Tidal power or tidal energy is harnessed by converting energy from tides into useful forms of power, mainly electricity using various methods. Although not yet widely used, tidal energy has the potential for future electricity generation. T ...

project was canceled due to costs of monitoring wildlife.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 48, 09, 44.44, N, 122, 43, 28.55, W, display=title Bodies of water of Island County, Washington Bodies of water of Jefferson County, Washington Straits of Kitsap County, Washington Straits of Washington (state) Puget Sound