Conquest of Coron (1532)

Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent started a new campaign on Vienna after being forced away from it by Charles in the 1529 siege, marching in April 1532 over Hungary with an imposing contingent of 200,000 men and 300 cannons.^[1] In response, imperial admiral Andrea Doria proposed to launch a naval expedition to attack the coasts of Ottoman Greece, hoping to force Suleyman to return to defend them.^[1][2]

The armada sailed off in September. It was composed of 17 galleys from Spain, 4 from the Viceroyalty of Sicily and 3 from that of Naples, along with 5 from the Order of St. John, 13 from the Papal States and two from Monaco, complemented by 35 naus and 15 carracks and galleons, with 12,000 men in total.^[1] The carracks included the famed Santa Anna, which had single-handedly routed the private fleet of Ottoman corsair Hayreddin Barbarossa the previous year.^[3] Doria commanded the fleet, with his cousin Antonio Doria as his second in command, Jerónimo de Mendoza captaining the land troops and Bernardo Salviati in charge of the St. John galleys.^[4] Doria had no fixed plan and would order the actions as he saw fit when they arrived in Greece.^[1]

While passing by Zante, the fleet came upon the Venetian armada, formed by 60 galleys in order of battle captained by Vincenzo Capello. The Venetians offered supply and port, but declined to join the effort due to their peace treaty with the Ottomans. Doria attempted to persuade them to break the accords, pointing out the continuous threat the Ottomans posed for Venice, and even proposed to a joint raid on Constantinople to capitalize on the chance of Suleyman being in Hungary, but again Capello declined.^[5] In turn, the allies came to believe Capello was trying to distract them to allow time to escape for the nearby Ottoman armada, composed by 70-80 galleys and fustas captained by Omer Ali.^[1][6]

Doria sent Antonio with seven galleys to track Omer Ali down, but he found out the Ottoman armada had already sailed around Cerigo and headed to Calcis.^[7] They additionally found out the Ottoman armada had suffered a Bubonic plague outbreak, discouraging them to pursue it further.^[8] The allied fleet took port in Sapienza, close to the former Venetian colony of Modon, now a Turkish port. Salviati proposed to conquer it, reminding a previous attempt by the Order of St. John and Greek rebels which almost succeeded. However, Doria deduced the Ottomans would have reinforced Modon in prevision of a similar attack, so he chose Coron, another former Venetian colony nearby which was defended mainly by its rough terrain and altitude. He was contacted by several other Greek rebels for this.^[5]

Doria ordered the fleet in a semi-circle around the Coron isthmus with the sailing ships as close to land as possible, using armored skiffs to anchor them from afar while under enemy fire. Ensured the positions, he built floating siege ramps on bridges between the naus, high enough to reach the walls of the fortress and manned by rodeleros. To provide cover fire for them, he placed arquebusiers, musketeers and even light artillery in the ships' rigging, innovatively fitting pairs of culverins and falconets on the topsails of the two biggest naus, therefore enabling the Christians to fire in a greater angle.^[5]

He also placed 35 of the galleys tied by their sterns in pairs back to back, divided in three groups of six pairs, in order to bombard the place while moving continuously so they would not be hit back by enemy fire. The galleys at the front would advance to fire their bow guns, after which the galleys at the back would tow them away from enemy range while reloading, with the groups alternately advancing and falling back, as in volley fire.^[9] The infantry and the rest of the artillery disembarked at both sides of the istums, commanded by Jerónimo de Mendoza and Girolamo Tuttavilla, Count of Sarno. The artillery was thus placed in three sections.^[5]

Bombardment of the fortress began on September 12, firing on it from over 170 artillery pieces.^[6] A first assault by Sarno through a breached wall was repulsed with 300 dead, which a more cautious Mendoza subsequently decided not to try from his side yet.^[5] To prevent the attack of possible relief forces, they built entrenched and bastions.^[6] It was rather the siege engines which decided the battle, as the ramps were placed against the fortress' battlements and allowed the Spanish to assault them directly. The rodeleros overwhelmed quickly the defenders, who abandoned the walls and took refuge in the citadel while the Christians sacked the place.^[10][11]

The following day, a Christian Greek warned about Turkish reinforcements coming by land in the form of 700 horsemen led by Zadar, from the nearby garrison of Laconia. He was first repulsed by Erasmo Doria, who turned the galleys' artillery against him, forcing him to take a detour and attack instead the Christian camp defended by Teodoro Spinola. However, with the help of 300 arquebusiers sent by Sarno, Zadar and the Ottoman cavalry were trapped in a moat, being either defeated or wiped out according to the version. The Christian collected the corpses' head and placed them in front of the citadel to reduce the morale of the defenders, who eventually surrendered on September 21.^[12][13]

Doria allowed the Ottomans of the city to leave with their wives and children, except by a group of Jews he retained as hostages. However, local Greeks capitalized on the chance to ambush the leaving Ottomans and kill most of them.^[14]