The Sip Canal (Serbian: Сипски канал / Sipski kanal) was a ship canal on the Danube, in eastern Serbia. It was constructed as part of a massive international effort to make the navigation through the most dangerous sections of the Iron Gates gorge safer and easier. Open in 1896, with participation of three royal heads of state, the Sip Canal was flooded in 1969 when the artificial Đerdap Lake was formed after the dam of the Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station on the Danube was built. In terms of navigation, it was the most important of all 7 canals cut through the gorge.

The Iron Gate gorge was notorious for the riverbed boulders and river rapids, which were hard to navigate through even for the most seasoned ferrymen. During the Ottoman rule, the ships were guided through by the local navigators who were familiar with the routes. They were called kalauz (from Turkish kalavuz, meaning guide, travel leader^{[citation needed]}). During the rule of prince Miloš Obrenović, local Serbs gradually took over from the Ottomans. The Serbian navigators were officially appointed by prince Miloš. To alleviate the Ottomans, the prince named Serbian navigators by a Turkish name, dumendžibaša, from dümen (rudder) and baş (head, chief, master). The navigation fee was divided in three parts, among dumendžibaša, loc (river pilots) and the local municipalities. The local navigators were described in the works of Vuk Karadžić and Mateja Nenadović.

At the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Serbia was recognized as a fully independent state, while Austria-Hungary was given a task of constructing the future Sip Canal. The task was then relegated to the Hungarian government. Hungarian government has been drafting the projects already in 1831. Several plans were later made by the Austrio-Hungarian government and the Austro-Ottoman commission, but the Hungarian government formed its own commission for the navigation project which finished its work in 1883.

Hungarian government enlisted a large number of workers and engaged a numerous and heavy machinery. The construction was a massive enterprise which resulted in construction of several canals:

In total, 15,465 m (50,738 ft) of navigable canals was created. Total length of all canals was 16.9 km (10.5 mi) while 19.2 km (11.9 mi) of embankments were also built. They were flooded when the artificial Lake Đerdap was created (circa 1970).

Works in the gorge section were done by the Hungarian Technical Administration, over the period of 11 years, starting in 1889. The works were divided in two sectors, the upper and the lower Iron Gates. The canals in the upper section, at the town of Orșova (the tripoint between Austria-Hungary, Romania and Serbia at the time) were up to 60 m (197 ft) wide and 2 m (7 ft) deep, at the zero water level in Orșova. In the southern section, the canals were 60 m (197 ft) wide and 3 m (10 ft) deep, except for the Sip Canal, which was wider and deeper.

Construction of the canal began on 17 September 1890. It was cut in the right bank of the Danube and cost 10 million golden dinars at the time. Some 465.000 m³ (16,421.3 cu ft) of high quality stone was used. The canal was ceremonially open on 27 September 1896, with cannon salvo. The ceremony was attended by the king Alexander I of Serbia, emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and king Carol I of Romania.

The Sip Canal had a total length of 2,133 m (6,998 ft), it was 73 m (240 ft) wide and up to 3.9 m (13 ft) deep. At the lowest water level it was still 3 m (9.8 ft) deep, which allowed the navigation of large river ships.