Battle of the Bay of Velez

Battle of the Bay of Velez
Date	July 5, 1553
Location	Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, Spain
Result	Ottoman–Algerian victory
Belligerents
Portuguese Empire	Regency of Algiers
Commanders and leaders
Unknown	Salah Reis
Strength
Unknown	40 vessels
Casualties and losses
Unknown deaths, all captured	Unknown

The Battle of the Bay of Velez was a naval battle between the forces of Salah Reis and a Portuguese flotilla in which the forces of Salah Reis emerged victorious.^[1]^[2]

The winter of 1552–1553 in the Regency of Algiers, was devoted to outfitting a fleet.^[3] In the beginning of June, Salah Reis embarked from Algiers and set out with a fleet of 40 vessels, galliots, galleys and brigantines.^[3]^[2]

On July 5, 1553, while at sea with his squadron, Salah Reis came across and defeated a Portuguese fleet at the bay of Velez.^[2]^[1] The entire flotilla and its caravels were captured and the Portuguese and Moroccans were taken captive and brought to Velez.^[3]

The booty was offered to the Saadi ruler as a token of friendship and neighbourliness and also to dissuade him from launching raids on Oran.^[3] Despite this offer a new border incident occurred, and Salah Reis spent his winter preparing an expedition against Morocco, after which he defeated the Saadi ruler in the Battle of Taza.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Salmi, Abdelhadi Radjai. "Irregular naval warfare in early modern age: the case of Algerian privateering in the 16th and 17th century. الحرب البحرية غير النظامية أوائل العصر الحديث: حالة حرب القرصنة الجزائرية في القرنين 16 و17 الميلاديين." مجلة الدراسات التاريخية العسكرية 4, no. 3 (2022): 153-168. p.155.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Algeria and Transatlantic Relations. United Kingdom: Brookings Institution Press, 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Braudel, Fernand. La Méditerranée et le monde méditeranéen à l'époque de Philippe II. (The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Era of Philip II) France: A. Colin, 1966.