 In February 1538, Pope Paul III succeeded in assembling a Holy League (comprising the Papacy, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Republic of Venice and the Maltese Knights) against the Ottomans, which was to be commanded by Andrea Doria, the chief admiral of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.Salih Reis, now a "Bahriye Sancakbeyi" (Rear Admiral, Upper Half) commanded the 24 galleys which formed the right wing of the Ottoman fleet during the Battle of Preveza in September 1538, in which the numerically inferior Turkish forces of Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha won an overwhelming victory over the Holy League under the command of Andrea Doria.In one of the most famous incidents of the battle, Salih Reis and his men boarded and assaulted the "Galeone di Venezia" (Galleon of Venice), the huge Venetian flagship under the command of Alessandro Condalmiero (Bondumier), together with two other Venetian galleys which were drifted away from the rest of the Venetian fleet due to the heavy loss of oarsmen which resulted from the bitter fighting.