Battle of Myeongnyang

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In the Battle of Myeongnyang, on October 26, 1597, the Korean admiral Yi Sunsin fought the Japanese navy at sea in Myeongnyang Strait, near Jindo Island. He had only 13 ships, all that remained from Won Gyun's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Chilchonryang. Admiral Yi Sunsin held the strait from a fleet of 133 Japanese warships and at least 200 Japanese logistical support ships. Many Japanese warships were sunk or disabled during the battle and the Japanese were forced to retreat. Given the disparity in numbers, the battle is regarded as one of Admiral Yi's most remarkable victories.

[edit] Prelude

Due to Japanese intrigue taking advantage of the fractious politics of the Joseon Dynasty court, Admiral Yi Sunsin was impeached and almost put to death. Yi was instead tortured and demoted to the rank of a common soldier. Yi's rival, Admiral Won Kyun, took command of the Korean fleet, which under Yi's careful management had grown from 63 heavy warships to 166.

Won Kyun was an incompetent military commander who immediately began squandering the Korean Navy's strength through ill-conceived maneuvers against the Japanese naval base at Pusan. In the Battle of Chilchonryang, the Japanese navy, with Todo Takatora in overall command, outmaneuvered the Korean navy and virtually wiped it out. Soon afterwards, the Japanese reinforced their garrisons in Pusan and various forts in the southern coast of Korea, and began the second invasion.

With the Korean Navy out of the picture, the Japanese believed that they now had access to the Yellow Sea and could resupply their troops through this sea route as they advanced northward. In the 1592 campaigns, Admiral Yi prevented the Japanese from resupplying their troops in this manner and kept their ships holed up at their main bases in Pusan Harbor.

[edit] The Battle

Admiral Yi Sunsin was hastily reinstated as supreme commander of the regional navies after Won Kyun was killed at the Battle of Chilchonryang. Yi only had 12 panokseon ships at his disposal, which had been saved by Bae Seol, a Korean officer who escaped early in the Chilchonryang battle. Later, another ship joined with Yi and his small fleet numbered 13. Although Yi only found 100 sailors initially, some of the survivors of Chilchonryang flocked to him and he had at least 1,500 sailors and marines by the end of September.

The Myeongnyang Strait had very strong currents that flowed at approximately 10 knots, first in one direction, then in the opposite direction in three hour intervals. Admiral Yi decided to use this unique condition as a force multiplier. On the morning of the 26th of October, the Japanese surged into the strait on a favorable tide, and Admiral Yi was waiting for them at the opposite end, using the shadows of the hills to hide his ships. As the Japanese ships came close to the end of the strait, Admiral Yi ordered his 13 ships to come out of the shelter of the hillside and form for attack.

Using double salvo cannon fire, the Koreans threw a fierce barrage that kept the Japanese at a distance. The narrowness of the strait prevented the Korean fleet from being flanked and the roughness of the tide prevented the Japanese from effectively enveloping them. Furthermore, the Koreans ships had flat bottoms that provided more stable and accurate cannon firing platforms than the Japanese ships, which had keel bottoms.

Floating in the water and moving towards the Koreans along the current was a body with the ornate armor of a high ranking Japanese commander. The body was hauled aboard by Admiral Yi's men and identified as Kurushima Michifusa, the commander of the vanguard units of the Japanese fleet and the brother of the late Kurushima Michiyuki, killed in 1592 by Admiral Yi at the Dangpo Battle. Yi ordered Kurushima's head cut off and posted on the mast of his flagship. Upon seeing the head of their commander, Japanese morale was affected.^{[citation needed]}

The tide soon shifted and the Japanese ships began to flow backwards and collide with each other. In the confusion, Admiral Yi ordered his ships to advance and press the attack, destroying ships out of all proportion to their relative numbers. The dense formation of Japanese ships crowded in the narrow strait made a perfect target for Korean cannon fire. The strong tides prevented those in the water from swimming to shore, and many Japanese sailors who abandoned sinking or damaged ships drowned. After the Japanese lost 31 warships and many others received significant damage, their fleet was no longer combat effective and thus they retreated.^{[citation needed]}

This victory prevented the Japanese from entering the Yellow Sea and resupplying their army, which had recently fought against Korean and Chinese armies in the Battle of Jiksan (Cheonan) and was headed towards the capital city of Hanseong (Seoul). With their supplies and reinforcements cut off via the sea route, the Japanese had to halt their advance and begin a general retreat.^[14].

[edit] Aftermath

The immediate results of the battle were a terrible shock to the entire Japanese command.^{[citation needed]} It essentially meant that the Japanese land offensive could not continue. The Japanese had hoped to supply and reinforce their offensive through the Yellow Sea, but that was no longer possible.^[14] Without being resupplied or relieved with fresh troops the morale of their soldiers declined. Korean and Chinese armies were able to regroup and push the Japanese back to their network of fortresses on the southeastern coast of Korea.

The victory also freed up the Chinese navy to join Admiral Yi in early 1598. After the destruction of most of the Korean fleet at Chilchonnyang, the Ming kept their navy stationed at important port cities to guard against possible Japanese naval attacks. The victory at Myeongnyang convinced the Ming government that they could ease security at their major ports and mobilize a fleet to Korea's aid.

The Japanese navy was heavily damaged (at least 31 battleships destroyed and 91 other ships damaged beyond repair). As previously mentioned, Kurushima was killed, and Todo Takatora (the hero of Chilchonryang) was wounded. The Japanese navy retreated back to Pusan to rest and refit, and would not be in fighting condition for several months, buying time for the Koreans to rebuild their fleet and the Chinese to bring naval reinforcements.^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Technical notes

The unique tidal conditions of the strait affected the Japanese in several ways. First of all, when attacking the Koreans, the Japanese had to do so in smaller groups. The Japanese could not advance all their ships into the channel at the same time. Although the current was moving north, it was still unpredictable, with isolated eddies and whirlpools, and sending a mass of ships into the channel would cause them to collide with each other. Secondly, when the current reversed and flowed south at the end of three hours, the Japanese ships not only drifted away, but could not maneuver and ended up colliding with each other. This is probably why there were so many damaged Japanese ships. Lastly, the rough currents of Myeongnyang made it difficult for anybody who fell overboard or jumped from sinking or burning ships to swim to shore. Most of the Japanese in the water ended up drowning.

Contrary to popular belief, there were no turtle ships present for the battle. At most, Admiral Yi probably had 2 to 6 turtle ships at any one given time and they were all lost during the Battle of Chilchonryang. The thirteen ships that Yi had were most likely panokseons.

[edit] References

• Hawley, Samuel 2005 The Imjin War: Japan's Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China. Republic of Korea and U.S.A.: Co-Published by The Royal Asiatic Society and The Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley.
• Turnbull, Stephen 2002 Samurai Invasion: Japan's Korean War. Great Britain: Cassell & Co.
• Sohn, Pow Key (edited by) 1977 Nanjung Ilgi: War Diary of Admiral Yi Sun-Shin. Republic of Korea: Yonsei University Press.

[edit] See also

• List of Korea-related topics
• History of Korea
• Joseon Dynasty
• Last stand