Doria As Imperial Admiral
As imperial admiral he commanded several expeditions against the Ottoman Empire, capturing Koroni and Patras, and co-operating with the emperor himself in the capture of Tunis (1535). Charles found him an invaluable ally in the wars with Francis I, and through him extended his domination over the whole of Italy.
In February 1538, Pope Paul III succeeded in assembling a Holy League (comprising the Papacy, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Republic of Venice and the Maltese Knights) against the Ottomans, but Hayreddin Barbarossa defeated its combined fleet, commanded by Andrea Doria, at the Battle of Preveza in September 1538. This victory secured Turkish dominance over the Mediterranean for the next 33 years, until the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.
He accompanied Charles V on the ill-fated Algiers expedition of 1541, of which he disapproved, and which ended in disaster. For the next five years he continued to serve the emperor in various wars, in which he was generally successful and always active, although now over seventy years old.
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