Oran and Mers El Kébir, Sieges of

The sieges of Oran and Mers El Kébir take place between April and June 1563 during the Ottoman-Habsburg struggle for the control of the Mediterranean when a huge Ottoman army under the command of Hasan Pasha, son of Hayreddin Barbarossa, and Jafar Catania, tries to conquer the Spanish-controlled strongholds of Oran and Mers El Kébir on the North African coast, defended respectively by Alonso de Córdoba, Count of Alcaudete, and his brother Martín de Córdoba.

The stubborn defense of the Spanish and the arrival of a relief fleet under Francisco de Mendoza frustrates the Ottoman intentions.