The battle was begun late during the day and was fought largely during the night in the narrows of the Bosporus amidst a storm, resulting in a confused fight with high casualties on both sides.

Following the Treaty of Nymphaeum in 1261, the Republic of Genoa established a merchant colony, known as Pera or Galata, just across the Golden Horn from the Byzantine Empire's capital, Constantinople.

[3] The subsequent attempts by Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos to shake off Genoese influence and revive the Imperial fleet backfired: in a brief conflict in 1348–1349, the Genoese of Galata captured the newly rebuilt Imperial fleet, blockaded the Byzantine capital, and gave them de facto control over the passage of the Bosporus strait into the Black Sea.

[4][7] The tensions led to the outbreak of the War of the Straits between Genoa and Venice in August 1350, in which Galata became a focal point of the conflict; already in September of that year a Venetian fleet under Marco Ruzzini attacked the Genoese colony, but withdrew after discovering its fortifications to be too strong to quickly defeat.

[10] Faced with the Venetian alliance-building, the Genoese moved to reinforce their most important overseas possession,[11] and on 13 July 1351, sixty ships with 180 men on board each sailed from Genoa, under the command of Paganino Doria.

There he scuttled his ships and was in turn blockaded by Doria until he was forced to withdraw in the face of an Aragonese fleet of forty galleys under Pancrazio Giustinian and Pons di Santapau [ca].

[13] The Genoese received some support from the neighbouring Ottoman ruler Orhan and the Aydinids, but lacked supplies and allowed several months to pass without decisive action, remaining at Galata while Kantakouzenos ensconced himself behind the strong walls of Constantinople and awaited the arrival of his allies.

As the wind favoured his opponents, Doria withdrew north and was unable to prevent the union of the Venetians and Aragonese with the Byzantine fleet,[17] led by Constantine Tarchaneiotes.

[15] Faced with their heavy losses, the allies withdrew, leaving the field to the Genoese;[18][14] both sides were to claim victory in the battle,[14] but it was more accurately a bloody draw without a decisive result.

[18] Strategically, therefore, the Genoese emerged as the victors from the confrontation, having managed to thwart the allies' attempt to dislodge them from their choke-hold on the entrance to the Black Sea.