A massive 1571 naval battle was the last time empires fought entirely with galleys
The 1571 Battle of Lepanto marked the end of an era in maritime warfare, involving over 400 ships in the final major clash between empires using traditional rowing galleys.
On October 7, 1571, the Holy League—a coalition of European Catholic maritime states—clashed with the Ottoman Empire near the Gulf of Corinth. This brutal engagement involved hundreds of oar-driven galleys, ships that had dominated Mediterranean warfare since antiquity. The Holy League's victory halted Ottoman expansion into the western Mediterranean and boosted European morale across the continent.
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