Key Facts
- Date
- 9 and 19 February 1695
- First engagement Venetian casualties
- 142 killed, 300 wounded (sailing ships); 323 killed, 303 wounded (galleys)
- Second engagement Venetian deaths
- 132 killed
- Total Venetian casualties (both actions)
- Under 2,500
- Result
- Venetian defeat in first action; draw in second; Chios abandoned
Strategic Narrative Overview
On 9 February 1695, the Venetian fleet under Antonio Zeno engaged the Algerian fleet near the Oinousses Islands off Cape Karaburun. Venice suffered a clear defeat, losing three ships and sustaining heavy casualties across both sailing vessels and galleys. A second engagement on 19 February ended inconclusively, but the loss of three ships and damage to the San Vittorio left Zeno numerically weakened and unable to sustain his position.
01 / The Origins
The battle occurred within the broader Morean War (Sixth Ottoman-Venetian War, 1684–1699), in which Venice sought to exploit Ottoman weakness by seizing Aegean territories. Venice had captured Chios only months before February 1695, but its naval position in the eastern Aegean was challenged by an Algerian fleet operating in Ottoman service under Mezzo Morto Hüseyin, threatening Venetian control of the island and surrounding waters.
03 / The Outcome
Although the second engagement was a tactical draw, the cumulative losses from both actions made the Venetian hold on Chios untenable. Zeno withdrew, surrendering the island that Venice had captured just months earlier. The battles demonstrated the limits of Venetian power projection in the eastern Aegean and contributed to the eventual peace settlement of the Morean War at Karlowitz in 1699.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Mezzo Morto Hüseyin.
Side B
1 belligerent
Antonio Zeno.
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.