Battle of Focchies
1649 CE.
Shown on the map at 38.667°, 26.758°.
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 fleet of nineteen warships under the command of Giacomo da Riva, and an Ottoman fleet 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 Republic of Venice (along with its allies, the Knights of Malta, the Kingdom of France and the Papal States) and the Ottoman Empire over dominance of various territories in the Mediterranean Sea, focused around Crete, the largest and most profitable overseas holding of the Venetian Republic. The battle came after a squadron of Venetian ships under the command of Giacomo da Riva 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. Da Riva moved to engage the Ottoman fleet, attempting to prevent them from sailing to Crete and reinforcing the Ottoman forces that were laying siege to the island.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Focchies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.