Amchitka Pass is a strait in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is the largest pass in the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...

on the

180th meridian The 180th meridian or antimeridian is the meridian (geography), meridian 180° both east and west of the prime meridian in a Geographic coordinate system, geographical coordinate system. The longitude at this line can be given as either east ...

, between the

Rat Islands The Rat Islands (,) are a group of American High islands, volcanic islands in the Aleutian Islands in southwestern Alaska, between Buldir Island and the Near Islands group to its west, and Amchitka Pass and the Andreanof Islands group to its e ...

group to the west and the Delarof Islands to the east. Amchitka Pass has a least width of and depths of to over . The islands on both sides of the pass should be cleared by at least . Heavy tide rips have been observed off the east end of Amchitka Island. The pass is dangerous in heavy weather, particularly for small and medium craft; currents appear erratic in direction and velocities may be strong. This may account for reports of very large seas and strong tide rips.U.S. Coast Pilot 9, Chapter 7, Aleutian Islands
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References

Straits of Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska Straits of Alaska {{AleutiansWestAK-geo-stub