long inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, southwestern County Cork, Ireland. The bay has a maximum length of 30 miles (48 km) and is 10 miles (16 km) wide at its broadest point; it separates the Beara peninsula to the north from the Sheep's Head peninsula to the south and is surrounded by mountains. Bantry Bay was entered in 1689 and 1796 by French fleets attempting invasions of Ireland. On Whiddy Island, at the east end of the bay near the mainland, there are 19th-century relics of a British naval station and a large oil terminal, which closed in 1979 following a tanker explosion but reopened in the late 1990s. The town of Bantry is located near the head of the bay.