Battle of Preveza The naval Battle of Preveza took place on 28 September 1538 near Preveza in northwestern Greece between an Ottoman fleet and that of a Christian alliance assembled by Pope Paul III . Background . In 1537 , commanding a large Ottoman fleet , Hayreddin Barbarossa captured a number of Aegean and Ionian islands belonging to the Republic of Venice , namely Syros , Aegina , Ios , Paros , Tinos , Karpathos , Kasos and Naxos , thus annexing the Duchy of Naxos to the Ottoman Empire . He then besieged the Venetian stronghold of Corfu and ravaged the Spanish - held Calabrian coast in southern Italy . In the face of this threat , Pope Paul III succeeded in February 1538 in assembling a ’ ’ Holy League ’ ’ , comprising the Papacy , Spain , the Republic of Genoa , the Republic of Venice and the Knights of Malta , to confront Barbarossa . Forces . Barbarossa ' s fleet that summer numbered 122 galley s and galliot s . That of the Holy League comprised 157 galleys ( 36 papal galleys , 61 Genoese , 50 Spanish and 10 sent by the Knights Hospitaller ) . Andrea Doria , the Genoese admiral in the service of Emperor Charles V was in overall command . Deployment . The Holy League assembled its fleet near the island of Corfu . The Papal fleet under Admiral Marco Grimani ( Patriarch of Aquileia ) and the Venetian fleet under Vincenzo Capello arrived first . Andrea Doria joined them with the Spanish - Genoese fleet on 22 September 1538 . Prior to Doria ’ s arrival , Grimani attempted to land troops near the Fortress of Preveza , but he retreated to Corfu after suffering a number of casualties in the ensuing encounter with Ottoman forces . Barbarossa was still at the island of Kos in the Aegean Sea at that time , but he soon arrived at Preveza with the rest of the Ottoman fleet , after capturing the island of Kefalonia on the way . Sinan Reis , one of his lieutenants , suggested to land troops at Actium on the Gulf of Arta near Preveza , an idea which Barbarossa initially opposed , but which later proved to be important for securing the Ottoman victory . With the Turks holding the fortress at Actium , they could support Barbarossa ' s fleet with artillery fire from there , while Doria had to keep his ships away from the coast . A Christian landing to take Actium probably would have been needed to ensure success , but Doria was fearful of a defeat on land after the initial sortie by Grimani had been repelled . Two more attempts by the Holy League to land their forces , this time near the fortress of Preveza at the opposite shore facing Actium , were repulsed by the forces of Murat Reis on 25 and 26 September . As Doria ' s ships kept their distance from the coast , much concerned about adverse winds driving them onto a hostile shore , Barbarossa had the advantageous interior position . During the night of 27 / 28 September , Doria therefore sailed 30 miles south and , when the wind died down , anchored at Sessola near the island of Lefkada . During the night , he and his commanders decided that their best option was to stage an attack towards Lepanto and force Barbarossa to fight . The battle . At dawn , however , Doria was surprised to see that the Turks were coming towards his ships . Barbarossa had taken his fleet out of the anchorage and headed south as well . Turgut Reis was in the van with six large fusta s , and the left wing closely hugged the shore . Not expecting such a daring offensive from the numerically inferior Ottoman fleet , it took Doria three hours to give the order to weigh anchor and ready for battle — pressed by Grimani and Capello . The two fleets finally engaged on 28 September 1538 in the Gulf of Arta , near Preveza . The lack of wind was not in Doria ' s favor . The huge Venetian flagship " Galeone di Venezia " with her massive guns was becalmed four miles from land and ten miles from Sessola . While the Christian ships struggled to come to her assistance , she was soon surrounded by enemy galleys and engaged in a furious battle that lasted hours and did much damage to the Ottoman galleys . When the wind rose , the Christian fleet finally approached the action , although Doria first executed a number of maneuvres designed to draw the Turks out to sea . Ferrante Gonzaga , the Viceroy of Sicily , was at the left wing of the combined fleet , while the Maltese Knights were at the right wing . Doria placed four of his fastest galleys under the command of his nephew Giovanni Andrea Doria who was positioned in the center front , between Gonzaga and the Maltese Knights . Doria ' s galleys formed a long line behind them , in front of the Papal and Venetian galleys of Grimani and Capello . In the rear were the Venetian galleons under the command of Alessandro Condalmiero ( Bondumier ) and the Spanish - Portuguese - Genoese galleons under the command of Francesco Doria , together with the barques and support ships . The Ottoman fleet had a Y shaped configuration : Barbarossa , together with his son Hasan Reis ( later Hasan Pasha ) , Sinan Reis , Cafer Reis and Şaban Reis , was at the center ; Seydi Ali Reis commanded the left wing ; Salih Reis commanded the right wing ; while Turgut Reis , accompanied by Murat Reis , Güzelce Mehmet Reis and Sadık Reis , commanded the rear wing . The Turks swiftly engaged the Venetian , Papal and Maltese ships , but Doria hesitated to bring his center into action against Barbarossa , which led to much tactical maneuvering but little fighting . Barbarossa wanted to take advantage of the lack of wind which immobilized the Christian barques that accounted for most of the numerical difference between the two sides . These barques fell as easy prey to the Turks who boarded them from their relatively more mobile galleys and galliots . Doria ’ s efforts to trap the Ottoman ships between the cannon fire of his barques and galleys failed . At the end of the day , the Turks had sunk 10 ships , burned 3 others , captured 36 , and had taken about 3000 prisoners . The Turks did not lose any ships but suffered 400 dead and 800 wounded . A number of Ottoman ships had been seriously damaged , however , by the cannon fire of the massive " Galeone di Venezia " , the Venetian flagship under the command of Alessandro Condalmiero . The next morning , with favorable wind , and unwilling to risk the Spanish - Genoese ships , Doria set sail and left the battlefield for Corfu , deaf to the pleas of the Venetian , Papal and Maltese commanders to continue the fight . Aftermath . It is widely speculated that Doria ’ s prevarication and lack of zeal were due to his unwillingness to risk his own ships ( he personally owned a substantial number of the " Spanish - Genoese " fleet ) and his long - standing enmity towards Venice , his home city ' s fierce rival and the primary target of Ottoman aggression at that time . In 1539 Barbarossa returned and captured almost all the remaining Christian outposts in the Ionian and Aegean Seas . A peace treaty was signed between Venice and the Ottoman Empire in October 1540 , under which the Turks took control of the Venetian possessions in the Morea and in Dalmatia and of the formerly Venetian islands in the Aegean , Ionian and eastern Adriatic Seas . Venice also had to pay a war indemnification of 300 , 000 ducats of gold to the Ottoman Empire . With the victory at Preveza and the subsequent victory in the Battle of Djerba in 1560 , the Ottomans succeeded in repulsing the efforts of Venice and Spain , the two principal rival powers in the Mediterranean , to stop their drive for controlling the sea . The Ottoman supremacy in large - scale fleet battles in the Mediterranean Sea remained unchallenged until the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 .