Battle of Zeytinburnu
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| Battle of Zeytinburnu | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Morean War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Ottoman Empire | Republic of Venice | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Mezzomorto Abdülkadir Pasha |
Girolamo Michele † Giovanni Zeno † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 33 galleon |
33 galleon 6 barge | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 300 killed and wounded | 5,000 killed and wounded | ||||||
The Battle of Zeytinburnu was a naval battle in September 1695 in which the Ottoman fleet under the command of Mezzomorto inflicted a heavy defeat on the fleet of the Republic of Venice off the coast of Lesbos.[1]
Mezzomorto was appointed as Kapudan Pasha with the rank of Vizier on May 6, 1695, after defeating the Venetian fleet in the Oinousses Islands in February 1695 and succeeding in liberating Chios from Venetian occupation.[2] Then, he was asked to assist the expedition planned by the commander-in-chief Mısırlızade İbrahim Pasha from the sea to retake the Morea, which was also under Venetian occupation.
On 18 June 1695, the Ottoman fleet] which set out from Istanbul to the Aegean Sea, was joined by the ships of the Barbary states (Regency of Algiers, Tunis and Tripolitania) in the port of Foça. Afterwards, the galleys that brought the Egyptian soldiers from Rhodes also joined the fleet.[3]
Upon learning that the 73-ship Venetian fleet, consisting of 34 galleys, 6 barges and 33 galleons, was near the island of Andros, Mezzomorto also advanced with the fleet to the vicinity of Psara. After the Venetian fleet arrived near Samos, the Ottoman fleet headed back to the Anatolian coast on September 12, and on September 15, the two fleets met south of Chios. After mutual cannon fire, the Ottoman fleet, which was able to withdraw from the Chios Channel to Lesbos, anchored at Karaburun. While the parties did not lose any ships in this conflict, the Venetian fleet lost 39 dead and 88 wounded.