Doria having been created admiral of France, with a salary of thirty-six thousand crowns, rose to great fame, on account of his victories and those of his lieutenants. Among these victories, that of Filippino Doria in the gulf of Salerno, deserves a brief mention, both because it was won by Italian arms, and because something should be added to the accounts given by other authors. Lautrec, while besieging Naples, desired to blockade the port, so as to prevent the supply of provisions to its defenders, and sent for the galleys of Doria, seven of which were then in Leghorn, under the command of Filippino Doria Count of Sassocorbario and Canosa and Andrea’s cousin.
Naples, surrounded on every side, would have been unable to sustain the siege, and the viceroy, Hugo Moncada, saw the necessity of breaking the enclosing lines by some daring undertaking. He collected six galleys called the _Capitana_ and _Gobba_, (the property of Fabrizio Giustiniano) one belonging to Sicames, another which was the property of Don Bernardo Vallamarino, the _Perpugnana_ and _Calabrese_. To these were added ten brigantines and some smaller vessels. The viceroy embarked upon the ships twelve hundred Spaniards clad in mail and commanded by the flower of the officers and barons of the kingdom. Finally, he himself joined the expedition and gave the command of the artillery to Gerolamo da Trani and that of the army to Fabrizio Giustiniano, called the hunchback, a brave Genoese in the pay of Spain. The latter, knowing the courage and skill of the Ligurian mariners advised that the Spanish fleet should avoid a close engagement with Doria; but a contrary opinion prevailed.
Count Filippino was in the waters of Salerno when the report reached him that the imperial fleet had left Naples.