The Greeks prepared for Battle, after receiving a forceful report form the Tenians. Shortly after Themistocles addressed his army, they were ordered to be ready for departure, just before they disembarked Sons of Aeacus joined the fleet.
The Persians were all over the Greeks after a moment of their leave. Just after a point of turning aground Ameninias of Pallene, in command of the Athenian ship, rammed into an enemy vessel. Immediately Greek fleets rushed to Ameinia's aid.
The Athenian squadron came face to face with the Phoenicians, who formed the Persian left wing and the Lacedeamonians faced the ships of Ionia, which were stationed on the Piraeus, or eastern side. .
The greater part of the Persian fleet suffered severely in the battle. The Athenians and Aeginetans accounted for many of their ships. The Greeks always worked as a whole however, the Persians had lost formulation but still continued to fight with consistence till the end. Every man feared for their lives not just on the battlefield but also of Xerxes eyes because they knew he was watching them. .
Xerxes had situated himself from the base of Mt Aegaleos, across the strait from Salamis where he could watch for officers behaving with distinction, he would find out their name, city and parentage as well as watching the battle.
Xerxes was very impressed by a plan Artemisia succeeded in that got her out of a very awkward situation to benefit her greatly. An Athenian trireme was chasing her ship and as it happened she was close to other enemy vessels it was impossible for her to escape. With the Athenian close on her tail she drove ahead with great speed and rammed and sank one her friend's ships which contained Calynda, with Damasithymus, the Calyndian king. The captain of the Athenian trireme saw her performance and naturally assumed that her ship was Greek, or a deserter which was fighting on the Greek side as a result of that he abandoned the chase and turned to attack else where.