Preveza: Ottoman Mastery of the Mediterranean

September 28, 1538

The Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa crushed a combined Christian fleet commanded by Andrea Doria off the Greek coast at Preveza. For the next thirty years, the central Mediterranean belonged to Istanbul. Spanish and Venetian galleys would not rally until Lepanto a generation later. Barbarossa's victory forced Christian powers into coastal fortification rather than open-sea engagement for the next thirty years.