Kapudan Pasha

Kapudan Pasha ( Ottoman قپودان پاشا, also Kaptanpaşa / کاپیتان پاشا; Kapudan ı Derya / قپودان دریا Kaptan -ı Derya / کاپیتان دریا ) was the highest military rank of the Ottoman navy. The Kapudan Pasha was a member of the State Council of the sultan and worked both as a commander and Minister of the Navy and at the same time as governor of several maritime provinces ( vilayet Cezayir ), particularly the islands of Rhodes and Crete and from 1570 to 1703 and Cyprus.

One of the most Kapudan Pasha was Khair ad-Din Barbarossa (1534-1546), the conqueror of Algiers and Tunis, one in the West feared and celebrated in the Ottoman Empire corsair. Another was Piale Pasha, who commanded the Ottoman fleet in 1565 during the siege of Malta and captured along with Lala Kara Mustafa Pasha 1570/71 Cyprus.

A third was Ali Pasha, in 1571, met his death in the Battle of Lepanto.

Gazi Hassan Pasha Cezayirli served as Kapudan Pasha 1774-1789. He has modernized the fleet at that time.

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