The strategic geographic positioning of the Algerian coastline along the Western Mediterranean basin was an essential catalyst for the rise and institutionalization of the Algerian naval fleet, particularly following Algeria’s formal integration into the Ottoman Empire and its active adoption of the imperial mission to defend Islamic domains. Maritime Jihad (al-Jihad al-Bahri) constituted the foundational military and ideological cornerstone for safeguarding Muslim territories, providing refuge to displaced Moriscos, and expanding the frontiers of the Islamic realm under Ottoman suzerainty. Amid structural geopolitics and naval confrontations in the Mediterranean, this maritime mobilization evolved from irregular coastal defense into a highly organized, state-sanctioned enterprise governed by the Taifat al-Ra'is (the Guild of Sea Captains). Over time, however, the original religious objectives frequently intersected with—and occasionally yielded to—commercial imperatives, systemic prize captures, and privateering ventures that enriched state coffers and naval elites. This study conducts a critical historiographical and contextual analysis of Algerian maritime warfare during the 17th and 18th centuries. It deconstructs the conceptual tensions between Islamic Jihad and Western notions of piracy, examines the socio-economic and geopolitical drivers of naval operations, and evaluates the reciprocal impacts of these naval engagements on Mediterranean state relations.