Battle of Calicut (1502)

Battle of Calicut Part of Portuguese battles in the Indian Ocean Date 5-6 January 1502 Location Calicut, India Result Portuguese victory Belligerents Portuguese Empire Calicut Arab privateers Commanders and leaders Vasco da Gama Khoja Kassein Cojambar Strength 10 carracks 6 caravels 20 large ships 40 gun-mounted sambuks Hundreds of smaller ships Casualties and losses Low Very heavy

The naval Battle of Calicut was a military encounter between the 16 ships (10 carracks and six caravels) of the 4th Portuguese Armada and a fleet led by two Arabic corsairs formed under the orders of the Zamorin of Calicut.

After the fleet of Vasco da Gama reunited with 6 caravels of the patrol fleet of Vicente Sodré, the Portuguese inflicted a heavy defeat on Calicut. In one of the first recorded instances of a naval line of battle, Gama's spice naus and escort caravels sailed in a line end-to-end, concentrating all their immense firepower as they passed against the twenty large Arab ships of Cojambar, before they could get organized, sinking a number of them and doing immense damage to the remainder. After the battle, the Portuguese returned to Cannanore.