Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera expedition (1563)

In 1563, a Spanish military expedition was launched to reconquer the exclave of Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, which was under the control of the Ottomans. The campaign ended in a fiasco for the Spanish troops.

Background
In 1522, Spain lost the peñón to a Moroccan Berber attack that resulted in the deaths of the entire Spanish garrison. Ali Abu Hassun, the new Wattasid ruler of Morocco in 1554, then gave the peñón to the Ottoman troops who had assisted him in gaining the throne. In 1525, the Spanish made an attempt to recover the islet but were defeated. After the victory at Oran, king Philip II of Spain decided to take advantage by launching a counter strike against Barbary haven, which is Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera.

Expedition
In 1563, the Spanish prepared another campaign against Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera. The command was given to Don Sanco de Leyva. The Spanish prepared an armada of 50 galleys and 7,000 men. The Spanish armada left Málaga on July 23. At Peñón, the Spanish governor, Pedro Venegas, made a plan by scaling the walls at night. He had fifty volunteers, accompanied by the eighth galleys of Álvaro de Bazán; however, the assault ended in failure after someone made a noise which alarmed the garrison and alarmed the others by firing cannons and dawn had arrived.

Despite this failure, Sancho did not give up and landed between 4,000 and 5,000 men six miles away from the rock in an attempt to capture it by land, however, the night assault again ended in failure as the defenders were alarmed. Ottoman galleys began appearing to support the garrison. The failure of the assault frustrated Sancho who held a council. The majority agreed to withdraw, except Álvaro de Bazán, who argued for the continuation of the campaign. He even proposed ideas for another assault, but Sancho ordered the troops to reembark.

The Spanish troops began leaving, but during their retreat, the Ottoman garrison and the Gomera Berbers attacked them with their artillery, inflicting heavy losses on the Spanish. The Muslims had acquired great loot that the Spanish left. The Spanish returned to Malaga on August 2.