Sieges of Oran and Mers El Kébir

Sieges of Oran and Mers El Kébir
	Part of the Ottoman-Habsburg wars
	; Oran's harbour. Painting of 1613 by Vicente Mestre.
Date	April – June 1563
Location	Oran and Mers El Kébir, present-day Algeria
Result	Spanish victory
Belligerents
Spanish Empire	Regency of Algiers; Kingdom of Ait Abbas; Kingdom of Kuku; France
Commanders and leaders
Alonso de Córdoba; Martín de Córdoba; Francisco de Mendoza y Vargas; Álvaro de Bazán	Hasan Pasha; Jafar Catania
Strength
1,500 men; 90 guns	100,000 men; 30 galleys; 15 galliots and fustas; 5 carracks
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Heavy human losses,; 5 galliots captured,; 4 carracks captured

The sieges of Oran and Mers El Kébir of 1563 represented a major Hispano-Algerian episode in the larger Ottoman-Habsburg wars of the Mediterranean. Between April and June 1563 the Regency of Algiers launched a major military campaign to retake the Spanish military-bases of Oran and Mers el Kébir on the North African coast, occupied by Spain since 1505. The Kingdom of Algiers, the Principalities of Kabyle (Kuku and Beni Abbes), and other vassal tribes combined forces as one army under Hasan Pasha, son of Hayreddin Barbarossa, and Jafar Catania. The Spanish commander brothers, Alonso de Córdoba Count of Alcaudete and Martín de Córdoba, managed to hold the strongholds of Oran and Mers El Kébir, respectively, until the relief fleet of Francisco de Mendoza arrived to successfully defeat the offensive.