Battle of the Dardanelles (1656)

Last updated
Third Battle of the Dardanelles
Part of the Ottoman-Venetian War over Crete
Battle of the Dardanelles (1656)(Pieter Casteleyn, 1657).jpg
Battle of the Dardanelles, by Pieter Casteleyn, 1657.
Date26 June 1656
Location
Dardanelles Straits
40°12′N26°24′E / 40.2°N 26.4°E / 40.2; 26.4
Result Venetian-Maltese victory
Belligerents
Flag of the Serene Republic of Venice.svg  Republic of Venice
Flag of the Order of St. John (various).svg Order of Saint John
Naval Ensign of the Ottoman Empire (1453-1793).svg Ottoman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Flag of the Serene Republic of Venice.svg Lorenzo Marcello  
Flag of the Serene Republic of Venice.svg Pietro Bembo
Flag of the Serene Republic of Venice.svg Barbado Badoer
Flag of the Order of St. John (various).svg Gregorio Carafa
Naval Ensign of the Ottoman Empire (1453-1793).svg Kenan Pasha
Strength

67 ships

  • 29 sailing ships
  • 7 galeasses
  • 31 galleys

98 ships

  • 28 sailing ships
  • 9 galleasses
  • 61 galleys
Casualties and losses
3 ships destroyed or captured 82 ships destroyed or captured

The Third Battle of the Dardanelles in the Fifth Ottoman-Venetian War took place on 26 and 27 June 1656 inside the Dardanelles Strait. The battle was a clear victory for Venice and the Knights Hospitaller over the Ottoman Empire, although their commander, Lorenzo Marcello, was killed on the first day.

Contents

Background

Since 1645, Venice and the Ottoman Empire had been at war over the possession of the island of Crete. Ottoman forces had captured most of the island in the early years of the war, but were unable to seize its capital, the heavily fortified city of Candia (modern Heraklion). The Venetians had endeavoured to cut off supplies and reinforcements to the Ottoman army, and attempted several times to blockade the Straits of the Dardanelles, through which the Ottoman fleet had to sail to reach the Aegean Sea from its base around Constantinople.

Preface

Marcello reached the island of Imbros, outside the Dardanelles Strait, on 23 May 1656 with 13 sailing ships, 6 galleasses and 24 galleys as well as some more vessels under Pietro Bembo. On 11 June, 7 Maltese galleys under Gregorio Carafa arrived, making a total of 29 sailing ships, 7 galleasses and 31 galleys. [1] [2]

On 23 June the Ottomans, under Kenan or Chinam Pasha, a Russian convert, appeared in the Strait with 28 sailing ships, 9 galleasses and 61 galleys. On 24 June Ottoman land batteries on either side of the Straits tried to drive the Venetians off but failed. [1] [2]

Battle

In the morning of 26 June the wind was from the north, and the Ottomans made good progress, the Venetian galleys being unable to assist their sailing ships. Then the wind backed, turning to the SE, trapping the Ottomans against the Asian side of the Strait just below the Narrows, and a mêlée ensued. Kenan Pasha got back past the Narrows with 14 galleys but the rest were either captured, sunk or burnt. [1] Sultan/San Marco was the most advanced Venetian ship and did the most to prevent the Ottoman retreat, but she ran aground under the Ottoman guns and was abandoned.

During the course of the battle, the Venetian Captain General Marcello was killed by a direct cannon hit, but his death kept a secret from all but his second, the provedditore of the fleet Barbaro Badoer.

Some small-scale fighting happened the next day, and at the end of it, the Ottoman fleet had lost 4 large sailing ships, 2 pinks, 5 galleasses and 13 galleys captured, and 22 sailing ships, 4 galleasses and 34 galleys sunk or burnt. Only 2 Ottoman sailing ships and 14 galleys escaped. Of the captured ships, Malta received 2 galleasses, 8 galleys and 1 "super galley" (or galleass?). The Venetians lost 3 sailing ships burnt and their casualties were 207 killed, 260 wounded and 94 missing. Maltese casualties were 40 killed and 100 or more wounded. Some 5,000 Christian slaves employed in the Ottoman fleet were freed. [3]

Aftermath

It was the heaviest naval defeat the Ottomans had suffered since the Battle of Lepanto, [3] [4] and enabled the Venetians to occupy the strategically important islands of Tenedos and Lemnos, thus establishing a tight blockade of the Straits. [5] As a result, the resupply of Crete was effectively cut off, and Constantinople itself suffered a shortage of food during the winter. [6] In a three-day battle in July 1657, however, the blockade would be broken again. [7]

Ships involved

Christian fleet

Venice (Lorenzo Marcello, with Pietro Bembo)

  • Fregata Contarini
  • Tomaso Francesco
  • Principessa grande
  • Tre Re
  • Croce d'Oro
  • Principessa piccola
  • Gallo d'Oro
  • Sacrificio d'Abram
  • Aquila Coronata (Kronede Arend)
  • Profeta Samuel
  • Arma di Nassau - Burnt
  • Lionessa
  • Arma di Lech
  • Leon Negro
  • Madonna del Carmine
  • Santa Caterina
  • Profeta Elia
  • San Bartolamio
  • Fama Volante
  • Ercole
  • Rosa Bianca
  • Speranza (or San Nicola)
  • Principe di Colognia
  • San Pietro (hired Dutch) - Burnt
  • Sultana/San Marco (ex-Ottoman) - Aground, abandoned and burnt
  • Santa Margarita
  • Paramor
  • ?
  • ?
  • 7 galleasses
  • 24 galleys

Malta (Gregorio Carafa)

  • 7 galleys

Ottoman Empire (Kenan Pasha)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Lepanto</span> 1571 naval battle of the Ottoman–Habsburg wars

The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states arranged by Pope Pius V, inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in the Gulf of Patras. The Ottoman forces were sailing westward from their naval station in Lepanto when they met the fleet of the Holy League which was sailing east from Messina, Sicily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy League (1571)</span> Catholic southern European alliance (1571)

The Holy League of 1571 was arranged by Pope Pius V and included the major Catholic powers of southern Europe, specifically the Spanish Empire as well as the Italian maritime powers. It was intended to break the Ottoman Empire’s control of the eastern Mediterranean Sea and was formally concluded on 25 May 1571.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Focchies</span> 1649 naval battle

The Battle of Focchies was a significant naval engagement that took place on 12 May 1649, in the harbour of Focchies, Smyrna between a Venetian force of nineteen warships under the command of Giacomo da Riva, and an Ottoman force of eleven warships, ten galleasses, and seventy-two galleys, with the battle resulting in a crushing victory for the Venetian fleet. The battle was an episode in the Cretan War from 1645 to 1669 between the Venetian Republic and the Ottoman Empire over dominance of various territories in the Mediterranean Sea. The war was one in a series of wars between the two warring powers, which contested for control of the Adriatic and Mediterranean trade routes. The primary territory that was contested during the war was Crete, the largest and most profitable of the overseas holdings of the Venetian Republic. The battle came after a squadron of Venetian ships under the command of Giacomo da Riva, a Venetian admiral, came to the rescue of the blockading Venetian force in the Dardanelles Straits, after the blockade had run into unexpected weather conditions and many ships sunk as a result.

This battle took place on 26 May 1646 at the mouth of the Dardanelles Strait, during the Cretan War. The Ottoman fleet under the Kapudan Pasha, Kara Musa Pasha, tried to defeat the Venetian fleet, under Tommaso Morosini. The Venetians were blockading the Dardanelles, trying thus to prevent reinforcements and supplies to be brought to Crete, a Venetian possessions which the Ottomans had invaded the previous year, and to disrupt the flow of supplies to the Ottoman capital, Constantinople.

This battle took place on 21 June 1655 inside the mouth of the Dardanelles Strait. It was a clear victory for Venice over the Ottoman Empire during the Cretan War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Dardanelles (1657)</span> 1657 naval battle

The Fourth Battle of the Dardanelles in the Fifth Ottoman-Venetian War took place between 17 and 19 July 1657 outside the mouth of the Dardanelles Strait. The Ottomans succeeded in breaking the Venetian blockade over the Straits.

The Battle of Andros took place on 22 August 1696 southeast of the Greek island of Andros between the fleets of the Republic of Venice and the Papal States under Bartolomeo Contarini on the one side and the Ottoman Navy, under Mezzo Morto Hüseyin Pasha, and allied Barbary forces on the other. The encounter was indecisive, and no vessels were lost on either side.

This battle, which took place on 16 May 1654, was the first of a series of tough battles just inside the mouth of the Dardanelles Strait, as Venice and sometimes the other Christian forces attempted to hold the Turks back from their invasion of Crete by attacking them early.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 27 August 1661</span> Naval battle of the Cretan War

Action of 27 August 1661 was a naval battle that took place on 27 August 1661 near Milos, Greece between the Republic of Venice and the Knights Hospitaller over the Ottoman Empire.

The action of 3 May 1657 was a battle that took place on 3 May 1657 and was a victory for the Republic of Venice over the Ottoman fleet of Algiers. Venetian casualties were 117 killed and 346 wounded. Few details are known.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Action of 8 July 1716</span>

The Action of 8 July 1716 was an indecisive naval battle that took place on 8 July 1716 during a Turkish attempt to capture the island of Corfu (Kerkyra), off the west coast of mainland Greece.

This battle was fought on 10 July 1651, with some minor fighting on 8 July, between the islands of Paros and Naxos in the Aegean Sea, between the Venetian and Ottoman fleets. It was a Venetian victory, but failed to achieve anything decisive.

The military history of the Republic of Venice started shortly after its founding, spanning a period from the 9th century until the Republic's fall in the 18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cretan War (1645–1669)</span> Conflict between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire (1645–1669)

The Cretan War, also known as the War of Candia or the Fifth Ottoman–Venetian War, was a conflict between the Republic of Venice and her allies against the Ottoman Empire and the Barbary States, because it was largely fought over the island of Crete, Venice's largest and richest overseas possession. The war lasted from 1645 to 1669 and was fought in Crete, especially in the city of Candia, and in numerous naval engagements and raids around the Aegean Sea, with Dalmatia providing a secondary theater of operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lorenzo Marcello</span>

Lorenzo Marcello was a Venetian admiral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573)</span> Conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League

The Fourth Ottoman–Venetian War, also known as the War of Cyprus was fought between 1570 and 1573. It was waged between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, the latter joined by the Holy League, a coalition of Christian states formed by the pope which included Spain, the Republic of Genoa, the Duchy of Savoy, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Corfu (1716)</span> Part of the Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War

The siege of Corfu took place on 8 July – 21 August 1716, when the Ottoman Empire besieged the city of Corfu, on the namesake island, then held by the Republic of Venice. The siege was part of the Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War, and, coming in the aftermath of the lightning conquest of the Morea by the Ottoman forces in the previous year, was a major success for Venice, representing its last major military success and allowing it to preserve its rule over the Ionian Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Gallipoli (1416)</span> Battle between Venice and the Ottoman Sultanate; upset Venetian victory

The Battle of Gallipoli occurred on 29 May 1416 between the fleets of the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire off the port city of Gallipoli, the main Ottoman naval base. The battle was the main episode of a brief conflict between the two powers, resulting from Ottoman attacks against possessions and shipping of the Venetians and their allies in the Aegean Sea in 1414–1415. The Venetian fleet, under Pietro Loredan, was charged with transporting a Venetian embassy to the Ottoman sultan, but was authorized to attack if the Ottomans refused to negotiate. The subsequent events are known chiefly from a detailed letter written by Loredan after the battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lodovico Flangini</span>

Lodovico Flangini was a Venetian noble who served as Capitano Straordinario delle Navi during the Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lazzaro Mocenigo</span>

Lazzaro Mocenigo was a Venetian nobleman who distinguished himself as an admiral during the Cretan War against the Ottoman Empire.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Setton (1991), p. 182
  2. 1 2 Anderson (1956), p. 159
  3. 1 2 Setton (1991), p. 183
  4. Finkel (2006), p. 248
  5. Setton (1991), pp. 183-185
  6. Finkel (2006), pp. 251-252
  7. Setton (1991), pp. 186-188

Sources