Battle of Zonchio

August 12, 1499

The first large naval battle where cannons fired from ships played the decisive role. Ottoman galleys under Kemal Reis destroyed a Venetian fleet near Sapienza, killing its admiral Antonio Grimani. Gunpowder was transforming Mediterranean warfare, and Venice's two centuries of naval supremacy were ending in smoke and splinters. The engagement foreshadowed the broadside tactics that would dominate Mediterranean and Atlantic naval warfare for three centuries.