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Yi Sun-sin ( 1545 — December 16, 1598), also rendered as Yi Sun-shin or I Sunsin, was a Korean naval leader. As the Lord High Admiral of the Korean fleet under the Joseon Dynasty, Yi led the fight against the Japanese during their first invasion of Korea during April 1592 in the Seven-Year War. He turned back the enemy fleet of Japanese invaders with his innovative "turtle ships," and became to many Koreans a legendary national heroThis article is about the type of character. For other meanings, see Hero (disambiguation . Sir Galahad, a prototypical hero In many myths and folk tales, a hero is a man or woman (then often called a heroine , traditionally the protagonist of a story, le.
1 Early Life
Yi was born in Geoncheon Dong ( KoreanThe Korean language is the most widely used language in Korea, and is the official language of both South and North Korea. The language is also spoken widely in neighbouring Yanbian, China. Worldwide, there are around 78 million Korean speakers, including: 건천동; 乾川洞) in SeoulSeoul Special City Korean Name Revised RomanizationSeoul Teukbyeolsi McCune-ReischauerSoul T'ukpyolshi Hangul Hanja [Note: there are no Hanja for "Seoul" ] Short NameSeoul (Soul; ) Statistics Population10,276,968 (2003) Area614 km˛(approximate) Government. His courtesy name was Deoksu (덕수; 德水) and his posthumous nameA posthumous name (/ Pinyin: shi hao; Romaji: shigo/tsuigo; Revised Romanization of Korean: siho) is a honorary name given to royalty in some cultures posthumously, that is, after the person's death. The posthumous name is commonly used when naming most C was Chungmu or Chung Mu (충무; 忠武).
2 The Seven-Year War and the Japanese Invasions
The Korean admiral was responsible for defeat of Japanese invasions in 1592 and 1597Events January 24 Battle of Turnhout. Maurice of Nassau defeats a Spanish force under Jean de Rie of Varas in the Netherlands The first opera is considered to have been written. Bali discovered by the Dutch explorer Cornelis Houtman Births Pieter Saenreda. In 1592, Toyotomi HideyoshiToyotomi Hideyoshi (; 1536 September 18, 1598), was a Japanese general who united Japan. He succeeded his former liege, Oda Nobunaga. Later, he invaded Korea. He is known for a number of cultural legacies, including the restriction that only members of th gave the order to invade Korea, planning to sweep through the peninsula and then conquer China. (See Seven-Year War) Hideyoshi was fully aware of the need to control the seas during the invasion. Having failed to hire two Portuguese galleons to help him, he increased the size of his own fleet to 700 vessels, assuming that the Koreans would fight hand-to-hand and be overwhelmed.
In fact the invasion force landed at Busan without meeting any Korean ships, and the Japanese forces began a lightning march north, reaching Seoul within twenty days on 2 May 1592. But the Korean navy was not idle. In May and June, in a series of actions, a small Korean fleet commanded by Yi Sun-sin destroyed several Japanese flotillas - in all perhaps 72 vessels were sunk by the end of June.
2.1 Yi and the "Turtle Ships"
Yi designed revolutionary iron-roofed ships called Geobukseon, or "turtle ship". These were probably the first warships to use iron plates as defensive armour. About 33 metres long and 8 metres broad, their roofs were made of hexagonal metal plates, which made them impossible to board and also provided protection against gunfire .
They were armed with twelve gunports and twenty-two loopholes per side for small-arms, plus four more ports at each end, together with fire-pots and toxic smoke. Sometimes the turtle-ships came up close, just like a modern torpedo boat, and fired broadsides; sometimes they used their metal ram to hole the enemy, leaving the other warships to close in for the kill. Their armament outweighted that of the Japanese by about 40 to 1.
Turtle ships were first deployed at Sachun, where it helped destroy 13 enemy ships. Subsequently, Admiral Yi achieved tremendous victories in every battle he engaged. In the battles at Dangpo, Danghangpo he sank 20 and 100 Japanese ships respectively and comprehensively routed the inexperienced Japanese sailors. Then on 8 July, in a decisive battle, Admiral Yi destroyed the main enemy fleet in Hansan Bay, sinking 59 out of 73 warships; and on the following day he defeated a relief expedition sailing up from Japan.
