Kılıç Ali Paşa

Occhiali (born Giovanni Dionigi Galeni; – 21 June 1587), also known as Uluj Ali, was an Italian privateer and admiral who served as the commander of the Regency of Algiers and Grand Admiral (Kapudan Pasha) of the Ottoman fleet.

Born Giovanni Dionigi Galeni, he was also known by several other names in the Christian countries of the Mediterranean and in the literature also appears under various names. Miguel de Cervantes called him Uchali in chapter XXXIX of his Don Quixote de la Mancha. Elsewhere he was simply called Ali Pasha. John Wolf, in his The Barbary Coast, refers to him as Euldj Ali.

Early life

Giovanni Dionigi Galeni was born to the seaman Birno Galeni and his wife Pippa de Cicco, in the village of Le Castella (near modern Isola di Capo Rizzuto) in Calabria, Kingdom of Naples. His father wanted him to receive a religious education, but on 29 April 1536, when he was about 17, Giovanni was captured by Ali Ahmed, one of the corsair captains of Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha, and was forced to serve as a galley slave. In 1565 he was promoted to the rank of Beylerbey (Chief Governor) of Alexandria.

Lepanto

On 7 October 1571, Uluj Ali commanded the left flank of Ali Pasha's fleet in the Battle of Lepanto. He kept his squadron together in the melee, outmaneuvered his direct opponent, Giovanni Andrea Doria, and captured the flagship of the Maltese Knights with its great banner. During this expedition, on 26 July 1574, the forces of Kılıç Ali Pasha constructed an Ottoman fortress on the coastline of Morocco, facing Andalusia in mainland Spain.

In 1576 he raided Calabria and in 1578 put down another mutiny of the janissaries in Algiers who had assassinated Arab Ahmed.

In 1584 he commanded a naval expedition to Crimea for the Crimean campaign (1584).

In 1585 he put down revolts in Syria and Lebanon with the Ottoman Egyptian fleet based in Alexandria.

Kılıç Ali Pasha died on 21 June 1587 in Constantinople (Istanbul). He is buried at the Kılıç Ali Paşa Mosque (1580), designed by the Ottoman chief architect Mimar Sinan.

Legacy He built the Kılıç Ali Paşa Mosque (1580) and Baths (1583) in Istanbul. Several warships and submarines of the Turkish Navy have been named after him (see Kılıç class fast attack missile boat and ). His statue is in the center square of Le Castella in Calabria, Italy, where he was born.