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The Christian fleet consisted of 206 galleys and six galleasses (large new galleys with substantial [[naval artillery|artillery]], developed by the Venetians). John of Austria, half-brother of Philip II of Spain, was named by Pope Pius V as overall commander of the fleet and led the centre division, with his principal deputies and counselors being the Roman Marcantonio Colonna and the Venetian [[Sebastiano Venier]]; the wings were commanded by the Venetian [[Agostino Barbarigo]] and the Genoese [[Gianandrea Doria]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Lepanto 1571: The Greatest Naval Battle Of The Renaissance |last=Konstam |first=Angus |author-link=Angus Konstam |year=2003 |publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]] |location=[[United Kingdom]] |isbn=1-84176-409-4 |page=23 |access-date=August 29, 2012 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xloOS43F-X8C&pg=PA23 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name=Stevens67>[[#Stevens|Stevens (1942)]], pp. 66–69</ref> The Republic of Venice contributed 109 galleys and six galleasses, 49 galleys came from the Spanish Empire (including 26 from the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdom of Sicily, and other Italian territories), 27 galleys of the [[Genoese navy|Genoese fleet]], seven galleys from the Papal States, five galleys from the [[Order of Saint Stephen]] and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, three galleys each from the Duchy of Savoy and the Knights of Malta, and some privately owned galleys in Spanish service. This fleet of the Christian alliance was manned by 40,000 sailors and oarsmen. In addition, it carried approximately 30,000<ref>{{ISBN|1861899467}}, p. 70</ref><ref name="ISBN|0-306-81544-3">{{ISBN|0-306-81544-3}}, p. 263</ref> fighting troops: 7,000 Spanish Empire regular infantry of excellent quality,<ref>[[#Stevens|Stevens (1942)]], p. 67</ref> (4,000 of the Spanish Empire's troops were drawn from the Kingdom of Naples, mostly Calabria),<ref>Gregory Hanlon. "The Twilight Of A Military Tradition: Italian Aristocrats And European Conflicts, 1560–1800." Routledge: 1997. Page 22.</ref> 7,000 Germans,<ref name=Setton>[[#Setton|Setton (1984)]], p. 1026</ref> 6,000 Italian mercenaries in Spanish pay, all good troops,<ref name=Setton/> in addition to 5,000 professional Venetian soldiers.<ref>Konstam (2003), p. 20</ref> A significant number of Greeks also participated in the conflict on the side of the [[Holy League (1571)|Holy League]] with three Venetian galleys commanded by Greek captains.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Yildirim |first1=Onur |title=The Battle of Lepanto and Its Impact on Ottoman History and Historiography |url=http://www.storiamediterranea.it/public/md1_dir/b700.pdf |journal=Mediterraneo in Armi (Secc. XV-XVIII) | volume = 2 | year = 2007 |pages=537–538 | issn=1828-1818}}</ref> The historian [[George Finlay]] estimated that over 25,000 Greeks fought on the side of the Holy League during the battle (both as soldiers and sailors/oarsmen) and stated that their numbers "far exceeded that of the combatants of any other nation engaged".<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Brewer |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eBCMDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92 |title=Greece, the Hidden Centuries: Turkish Rule from the Fall of Constantinople to Greek Independence |date=2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85772-167-9 |pages=92 |language=en}}</ref>
Oarsmen were mainly drawn from local Greek populations, who were experienced in maritime affairs,<ref name=":0" /> although there were some Venetian oarsmen as well.<ref name="Guilmartin 222-225">John F. Guilmartin (1974), pp. 222–25</ref> Free oarsmen were generally acknowledged to be superior to [[galley slave|enslaved or imprisoned oarsmen]], but the former were gradually replaced in all galley fleets (including those of Venice from 1549) during the 16th century by cheaper slaves, convicts, and prisoners-of-war owing to rapidly rising costs.<ref>The first regularly sanctioned use of convicts as oarsmen on Venetian galleys did not occur until 1549. re Tenenti, ''Cristoforo da Canal'', pp. 83, 85. See Tenenti, ''Piracy and the Decline of Venice'' (Berkeley, 1967), pp. 124–25, for Cristoforo da Canal's comments on the tactical effectiveness of free oarsmen c. 1587 though he was mainly concerned with their higher cost. Ismail Uzuncarsili, ''Osmanli Devletenin Merkez ve Bahriye Teskilati'' (Ankara, 1948), p. 482, cites a squadron of 41 Ottoman galleys in 1556 of which the flagship and two others were rowed by Azabs, salaried volunteer light infantrymen, three were rowed by slaves and the remaining 36 were rowed by salaried mercenary Greek oarsmen.</ref> The Venetian oarsmen were mainly free citizens and able to bear arms, adding to the fighting power of their ships, whereas convicts were used to row many of the galleys in other Holy League squadrons.<ref name="Guilmartin 222-225" />
[[File:Lepanto f1.jpg|thumb|left|Depiction of the [[Ottoman Navy]], detail from the painting by Tommaso Dolabella (1632)]]
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While soldiers on board the ships were roughly matched in numbers,<ref>{{ISBN|0-306-81544-3}}, p. 264</ref> an advantage for the Christians was the numerical superiority in guns and cannon aboard their ships. It is estimated that the Christians had 1,815 guns, while the Turks had only 750 with insufficient ammunition.<ref name="Geoffrey Parker 87-88"/> The Christians embarked with their much improved [[arquebusier]] and [[musketeer]] forces, while the Ottomans trusted in their greatly feared [[composite bow]]men.<ref>John Keegan, ''[[A History of Warfare]]'' (1993), p. 337.</ref>
The Christian fleet started from Messina on 16 September, crossing the [[Adriatic]] and creeping along the coast, arriving at [[Echinades|the group of rocky islets]] lying just north of the opening of the [[Gulf of Corinth]] on 6 October. Serious conflict had broken out between Venetian and Spanish soldiers, and Venier enraged Don Juan by hanging a Spanish soldier for impudence.<ref name="Stevens103">William Oliver Stevens and Allan F. Westcott, ''A History of Sea Power'', 1920, p. 103.</ref> Despite bad weather, the Christian ships sailed south and, on 6 October, reached the port of [[Sami, Cephalonia]] (then also called Val d'Alessandria), where they remained for a while.
Early on 7 October, they sailed toward the [[Gulf of Patras]], where they encountered the Ottoman fleet. While neither fleet had immediate strategic resources or objectives in the gulf, both chose to engage. The Ottoman fleet had an express order from [[Selim II]] to fight, and John of Austria found it necessary to attack in order to maintain the integrity of the expedition in the face of personal and political disagreements within the Holy League.<ref>Glete, Jan: Warfare at Sea, 1500–1650: Maritime Conflicts and the Transformation of Europe. Routledge. 2000. p. 105. Retrieved from Ebrary.</ref> On the morning of 7 October, after the decision to offer battle was made, the Christian fleet formed up in four divisions in a north–south line:
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* The Centre Division consisted of 62 galleys under John of Austria himself in his ''[[Real (galley)|Real]]'', along with Marcantonio Colonna commanding the papal flagship, Venier commanding the Venetian flagship, [[Paolo Giordano I Orsini]] and Pietro Giustiniani, prior of Messina, commanding the flagship of the [[Knights of Malta]].
* The Right Division to the south consisted of another 53 galleys under the Genoese [[Giovanni Andrea Doria]], great-nephew of admiral [[Andrea Doria]].
* A reserve division was stationed behind (that is, to the west of) the main fleet, to lend support wherever it might be needed, commanded by [[Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz|Álvaro de Bazán, the Marquis of Santa Cruz]].
[[File:One of the Venetian Galleasses at Lepanto - Pg 74.jpg|thumb|''One of the Venetian Galleasses at Lepanto'' (1851 drawing, after a 1570s painting)]]
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