Hayreddin Barbarossa

Corsair who became Kapudan Pasha of the Ottoman fleet, making the western Mediterranean an Ottoman lake for a generation and beating a combined Christian fleet at Preveza in 1538. His career is the clearest case of a state absorbing piracy into its navy rather than suppressing it, because the skills were the same and the ships were already built.

• Lived: 1478 CE – 1546 CE
• Nationality: ottoman
• Roles: admiral, naval_commander