Murat Reis The Elder - Commander of The Ottoman Indian Ocean Fleet

Commander of The Ottoman Indian Ocean Fleet

In 1552 Suleiman I assigned Murat Reis as the Commander-in-Chief of the Ottoman Indian Ocean Fleet (hence his commonly-known title Hint Kaptanı, i.e. Captain of the Indian Ocean.) He was the third commander to take this post after Hadım Süleyman Pasha and Piri Reis. The fleet was based in Suez (Egypt) on the Red Sea, with other homeports in Aden (Yemen) and Basra (Iraq) on the Persian Gulf. The homeport in Basra, which Murat Reis used while fighting the Portuguese forces in the Indian Ocean, consisted of 26 galleys and several smaller vessels. Murat Reis repaired these ships and, leaving 8 of them in Basra, set sail with 18 galleys to the Indian Ocean. There he encountered a Portuguese fleet of 25 galleys, which had set sail from their base in Goa. Murat Reis successfully engaged the numerically superior Portuguese force and after bitter fighting until nightfall, which ended in a stalemate with heavy losses on both sides, the Portuguese fleet retreated back to Goa and Murat Reis retreated back to Basra. The result, however, didn't please Suleiman I, who was expecting a decisive victory, and Murat Reis was removed from his post; which would be taken by another famous admiral, Seydi Ali Reis. Murat Reis rejoined Turgut Reis and continued to operate with him until the death of the famous seaman at the Siege of Malta in 1565.