Battle of Alborán
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (June 2015) |
Battle of Alboran | |||||||
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Part of Ottoman-Habsburg wars | |||||||
An Ottoman Galley; image taken from a miniature. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Spain | Ottoman Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Bernardino de Mendoza (WIA) | Ali Hamet (POW) | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
10 galleys[1] | 3 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
137 killed, 500 wounded[3] |
1 galley sunk, 10 ships captured, 700 killed, 437 captured, 837 slaves freed[3][4] |
The battle of Alboran (
Background
In mid-1540 the Barbary pirate Ali Hamet, a
Battle
Bernardino de Mendoza, commander of the galleys of Spain, learned of the raid while in
Hamet and Caramani attempted unsuccessfully to board Mendoza's flagship. The Spanish commander, aware that the outcome of the battle depended heavily on this fight, ordered his soldiers and rowers to move to one side of the galley, raising the opposite side to act as a parapet against Hamet's galley's gunfire.[5] Then Mendoza's soldiers boarded and captured Caramani's galley, killing Caramani and the majority of his crew. Next they boarded Hamet's galley and captured it, at which point Hamet jumped into the water and swam to another galley in his fleet.[5]
A Spanish galley commanded by Pedro de Guerra sank one Ottoman galley with a single shot and captured another by boarding it.[5] The galley Santa Ana, meanwhile, was attacked by two Algerian vessels, one of which was forced to surrender, while the other escaped.[5] Hamet, who had been rescued by an Algerian galliot, was captured by Enrique Enríquez's galley while trying to escape.[3] The battle ended with an incident during which Enrique Enríquez ordered his men to fire on an Ottoman galley believing it was still in Turkish hands. However, the crew of the Santa Bárbara had already captured the galley; seven Spanish died and twelve were injured.[3]
Aftermath
Of the 16 Ottoman ships, ten were captured and one sunk. More than 700 Turks, including all the captains, were killed. In addition, 427 of them were captured and 837 Christian slaves were freed. The Spanish, meanwhile, had 137 dead and about 500 wounded, including Bernardino de Mendoza, who was wounded in the head by a
Notes
References
- Fernández Duro, Cesáreo (1895). Armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón (in Spanish). Vol. I. Madrid, Spain: Est. tipográfico "Sucesores de Rivadeneyra".
- ISBN 978-1-4067-7272-2.