Repeated Venetian delay before the battle

At the 10 July war council, galley captains and senior officers urged Grimani to take the fleet to sea before it could be bottled up in port. He deferred the decision. Between 23 and 24 July, the Ottoman fleet reached Malvasia and Cape Matapan, entered the Gulf of Coron, and landed troops on Sapienza. Further councils followed, and Grimani repeatedly split, formed, and withdrew his force after judging the Ottoman fleet's size and firepower. Concern for the political cost of defeat appears to have encouraged caution without producing an alternative operational plan. By the time Ottoman movement toward Navarino forced a decision in August, weeks of posturing had encouraged the enemy and weakened confidence among his own captains and crews.