BISMARCK SEA

section of the southwestern Pacific Ocean, bounded by the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea (southwest) and the Bismarck Archipelago including the Admiralty Islands (north), New Ireland (east), and New Britain (south). With a total surface area of about 15,000 square miles (40,000 square km), it opens to the Pacific on the north and to the Solomon Sea on the southeast through Vitiaz and Dampier straits and St. George's Channel. The basin, with a general depth of 6,600 feet (2,000 m) and maximum depths approaching 8,200 feet (2,500 m), is divided by a central ridge into the eastern New Ireland and western New Guinea sections. The sea was under German control from about 1885 until 1914 and bears the name of the German statesman Otto von Bismarck.