The Battle of the Gulf of Oman was a naval battle between a large Portuguese armada under Dom Fernando de Meneses and the Ottoman Indian fleet under Seydi Ali Reis. The campaign was a catastrophic failure for the Ottomans who lost all of their ships. Background Since the Siege of Diu in 1538, the Ottoman Empire was attempting to counter Portuguese influence in the Indian Ocean. In 1552, Ottoman admiral Piri Reis led a number of expeditions around the Arabian peninsula against the Portuguese with limited success. He was replaced with Murat Reis, who also led an unsuccessful campaign against the Portuguese the following year. In late 1553, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent nominated Seydi Ali as admiral (reis) of Ottoman naval forces stationed in Basra, in replacement of Murat Reis. He was ordered to link up his galleys with those in Suez to better fight the Portuguese, but such a task meant sailing through Portuguese controlled waters in the Persian Gulf. In February 1554, the Portuguese dispatched from Goa six galleons, six caravels, 25 foists, and 1,200 Portuguese soldiers under the command of Dom Fernando de Meneses, son of the Viceroy, tasked to blockade the mouth of the Red Sea and collect information on any Ottoman movements. Throughout the month of March the Portuguese sighted not a single merchant ship crossing the Bab-el-Mandeb, presumably because the presence of the Portuguese fleet had discouraged any voyages that season. In April the expedition sailed to Muscat, where part of the fleet was left to spend the winter ("winter" meaning the monsoon season) while Dom Fernando took the oarships, a galleon, and several merchantships to Hormuz, to replace Dom Antão de Noronha with Bernardim de Sousa as the captain of that fortress. When the westerly winds started blowing in July, the galleon was sent back and Dom Fernando sent 3 small craft (catures) of native fishermen to scout the Shatt al-Arab for any Turkish galleys. The fishermen informed the Portuguese that Moradobec (Murat Reis) had been replaced by Alecheluby (Seydi Ali), and was about to set sail to Suez with 15 galleys. The battle In the beginning of August the Turks set sail from Basra. The Portuguese forces in Muscat were immediately alerted of the Turks' movement and set sail to the Cape Musandam to meet them. The Portuguese oar ships sailed in the front, followed by the caravels and then the heavy