In 1537 the Ottoman fleet under the command of Hayreddin Barbarossa captured a number of Aegean islands belonging to Venice and besieged the Venetian stronghold of Corfu. In the face of this threat, Pope Paul III succeeded in assembling a fleet with forces from the Papacy, Spain, the Republic of Genoa, Venice and the Knights of Malta, under the command of Andrea Doria. The two fleets engaged on 28 September 1538 in the Gulf of Arta, near Preveza. The lack of wind, the agility of the Ottoman fleet, and Doria’s reluctance to endanger his own ships lead to a Turkish triumph despite the vast numerical superiority of the European fleet (more than 300 ships against 122 Ottoman vessels).