Byzantine Battles: Naval Battle of Bosporus

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Naval Battle of Bosporus (Battle of the Straits)	year: 1352 13 February 1352
Indecisive battle between the Genoese and the Venetians in Bosporus	★ ★ ★ ★ ★

enemy: Genoese	location: Constantinople	accuracy: ●●●●●
battle type: Naval Battle	war: Venetian-Genoese Wars	modern country: Turkey

	▼ The Byzantines(emperor: John VI Kantakouzenos)	▼ The Enemies
Commander:	General Niccolò Pisani	Admiral Paganino Doria
Forces:	Unknown	62 ships
Losses:	Heavy	Heavy

Background story:

The Venetian–Genoese Wars were a long-standing conflict between the Republic of Genoa and the Republic of Venice for dominance in the eastern Mediterranean Sea between 1256 and 1381.
Since the conflict took place mostly in the Aegean, the Byzantines were inevitably involved.

The Genoan tower of Galatas in Peran.

In 1348–1349 the Genoese fought a short war with the Byzantine Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos. Kantakouzenos had attempted to control custom duties in the Bosporus. This was a financial blow for the Genoese based in Galata and declared war (literally). In early 1349, the Genoese burned a small Byzantine fleet of 9 ships that Kantakouzenos had just built with great financial sacrifices. The dispute was finally settled with the Genoese paying a generous compensation but keeping their financial privileges in Bosporus.

In the meantime, Genoa was at war with Venice. Under their general Niccolò Pisani, the Venetians burned Galata (the Genoan basis in Peran, Constantinople) in the early summer of 1351 and forced the Byzantine emperor to join the alliance against Genoa.

The Battle:

Venetian galley

Shortly after the incident in Galata, a Genoese armada of 62 ships under the command of Paganino Doria sailed into the Aegean and besieged the Venetian fortress of Oreos in Euboea, where Pisani was staying. The siege lasted until 20 October 1351, when Doria was forced to lift the siege by the arrival of a Catalan fleet (Catalonia was subject to Aragon, an ally of Venice) .
On 13 February, a Venetian-Aragonese fleet, assisted by 12 Byzantine ships under Constantine Tarchaniotes, met the Genoese armada in Bosporus. The ensuing battle was indecisive; both sides suffered heavy losses, but in the end Venice had to abandon the Bosporus and the Aragonese fleet was hardest hit. The emperor had no choice but to come to terms of peace with the Genoese.

Aftermath:

Venice responded by paying the next emperor John V Palaiologos to enter the war against the Genoese.
However that phase of the war ended in 1355 with the Venetians signing an unfavorable treaty after their defeat in Sapienza.

Byzantine Battles

Naval Battle of Bosporus

1352