The Yuan fleet first attacked with the fire ships, but the Song ships were prepared for this and were covered with fire resistant mud. The Mongol Yuan Dynasty had 20,000 soldiers and more than 50 warships. Song Dynasty had 200,000 people mostly civilians, more than 1,000 war ships mostly type of transport ships. But General Shijie disagreed and to prevent troops from fleeing the battle he ordered to burn all palaces, forts and houses on the land and chained 1000 warships together placing the Emperor Bing’s boat at the center of the fleet. Some soldiers of the Song forces advised to conquer the mouth of the bay first to open the way to retreat westward. On 19 th March, 1279 the Yuan led by Zhang Hongfan attacked the Song fleet in Yamen. General Shijie brought Emperor Bing to Yamen, Guangdong and prepared a defense against the Yuan. In five hours battle on the Gulf of Corinth near western coast of Greece, the Holy League fleet defeated the main Ottoman fleet. The Ottoman fleet had 251 ships including 206 galleys and 45 galliots equipped with 31,490 soldiers, 741 guns, 50,000 sailors and oarsmen. Holy League fleet had 212 ships including 206 galleys and 6 galleasses equipped with 28,500 soldiers, 1,815 guns, 40,000 oarsmen and sailors. Holy League fleet sailed to the Gulf of Patras, a branch of the Ionian Sea, where they confronted the Ottoman fleet on 7 th October, 1571. Venetian commanders’ heads along with Bragadin’s corpse was hung on Mustafa Pasha’s galley that day. Pasha imprisoned the Venetians and on 17 th August Venetian commander Antonio Bragadin was flayed alive.

Though Ottoman commander Lala Mustafa Pasha earlier assured Venetians that they would be allowed to leave Cyprus freely, he broke his word as he had lost 52,000 Ottoman soldiers including his son in the siege. The fleet moved to Sicily and received the news that the Venetians of Famagusta surrendered to the Turks on 1 st August 1571. There were five decisive naval battles that would make into the all time top 5 chart as these decided the fates of empires, civilizations or great nations, he reports. The naval battle fought by Royal Navy in 1805 against the combined French and Spanish fleets sealed the fate of the war as the Franco-Spanish fleet lost 22 out of its total 33 ships while the British fleet did not lose a single one and ensured peace for some period of time. For example the Battle of Trafalgar can be considered as decisive. Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian-German trooper and military theorist of the early 19 th century, defined decisive battles as one that directly leads to peace.

A decisive battle refers to a military victory in war that conclusively resolves the objectives being fought over. Published in 1851, ‘the fifteen decisive battles of the world-from Marathon to Waterloo’ written by Sir Edward Creasy had set the standard for battle rankings. (7) Greeks used Triremes in the Battle of Salamis a Trireme named Olympias reconstructed in 1987 is a commissioned vessel in the Greek navy. Photo story (Clockwise from top left): (1) 16 thcentury oil painting of Battle of Lepanto at the Greenwich Maritime Museum (2) Illustration of Ottoman naval forces during the battle of Lepanto (3) Park in Guangdong, commemorating the Battle of Yamen (4) In 1812, Nicholas Pocock oil painted and illustrated the Battle of Quiberon Bay, at Greenwich Maritime Museum (5) An English soldier who fought in the Battle against Spanish Armada, illustrated the naval warfare in 1588 (6) Routes of the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Ottoman empire naval battle group