Admiral Yi Sun-sin: Turtle Ships, Myeongnyang and a King's Betrayal

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Yi Sun-sin was born in 1545 in Hanseong, modern Seoul, to a family blacklisted after his grandfather was impeached in a factional purge of the Joseon court. He failed his first military examination after breaking his leg in a fall from his horse, splinted it with willow branches, and finished anyway. He finally passed at 32, the oldest junior officer in his district. On the northern frontier he trapped and captured a Jurchen chieftain, only to be framed for desertion by his jealous superior Yi Il, tortured, and reduced to a common soldier. His childhood neighbor Ryu Seong-ryong, by then a powerful minister, secured him command of the Jeolla Left Naval District in the early 1590s, just before Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea in 1592.

Yi's fleet tore apart Japanese supply lines, and at Hansan Island a feigned retreat drew the enemy into his crane wing formation, where he destroyed 47 ships and captured 12. When a double agent baited King Seonjo into ordering an attack through a rocky channel, Yi refused, was dragged to the capital in chains and tortured again, and was replaced by Won Gyun, who lost the fleet at Chilcheollyang. Reinstated with 13 ships, Yi beat more than 330 Japanese warships at Myeongnyang. He was mortally wounded at Noryang in 1598.

• The roughly 65-foot turtle ships carried an iron-spiked roof, cannon on every side, and a dragon head that blew sulfurous smoke.
• Flat-bottomed Korean panokseon could pivot in place, while the V-hulled Japanese ships built for boarding had to turn in wide arcs.
• At Myeongnyang Yi timed the strait's three-hour tidal reversal, sinking 31 enemy ships without losing any of his 13.
• Dying at Noryang, Yi had his nephew cover him with a shield, wear his armor, and keep beating the war drum.
• Admiral Togo of Japan reportedly said that while Nelson was great, Yi Sun-sin had no equal in history.