#9 – Yi Sun-sin
I tried to avoid consideration of Naval Commanders for this exercise, but with this manly Korean innovator I had little choice but to include him.
After joining the military early in life, Yi experienced a rapid rise through the ranks defending the Korean border against the Jurchens, capturing their leader in 1583. Yi had further land success against the Jurchens following his traditional leave of absence after his father’s death. Conspiracies against Yi twice stripped him of his rank (others were jealous of his success), and he was brutally tortured and imprisoned after both incidents. Following the first, he worked his way back up through the ranks. After the second, he was re-instated to command because the navy floundered without him. All this manliness, though, only brushes on what made Yi a necessary part of this list.
In the middle of the 16th century, Oda Nobunaga used his stranglehold on European guns to unify Japan. Nobunaga died in 1582 and was succeeded by his loyal general, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi decided that he should conquer China as well as Japan, and may as well take Korea while he was on his way to China. Big mistake.
In 1592 the Japanese were able to land at and take the Korean port of Pusan. From there, the invasion force pushed north toward Seoul. Yi Il, the general responsible for Yi Sun-sin’s initial discrediting, failed miserably in his attempts to slow the Japanese. Meanwhile, the army needed to be resupplied by sea. This is where Yi comes in.
Yi foresaw the Japanese invasion and developed a new warship, the turtle ship. It was the first ironclad warship in the world, with iron plates on top studded with sharp spikes. The ship also featured masts that could fold down at need, eight pairs of oars, ten cannon ports on each side, two additional cannon ports on the front, and the now legendary “dragon head.” The dragon’s head was placed at the prow of the ship and served several useful functions. Another cannon could be fired through the dragon’s maw, flame could be shot from it in a jet, or pitch could be burned in it to create a smokescreen. A fearsome weapon indeed, the turtle ships saw action into the 19th century.
Admiral Yi and his new ships set out in May of 1592 to crush the Japanese navy. A quick string of smaller victories firmly established Yi’s reputation as a commander the Japanese should fear. On July 8 of that year, Yi cemented that reputation forever by using a decoy to lure Japanese ships into battle at open sea. In the battle of Hansando, Yi managed the complete destruction of the 73 ship Japanese force using the famous “Crane Wing” maneuver. “Annihilation was complete in a matter of hours,” wrote Yi in his journal.
Although the Koreans had their own Thermopylae story during this invasion (700 Brave Men following the battle of Chonju), they generally were inferior to the Japanese in land battles. When the Japanese were surrounded and withdrew from the siege of Chinju, they were forced to end their invasion because Admiral Yi had compiled a remarkable undefeated record, one that would not suffer a blemish in his sterling career. With supply lines and reinforcements effectively cut off by Yi’s naval dominance, the Japanese invasion was doomed to failure.
With that knowledge, the Japanese planted a double agent in Korea in 1593. That same year Yi was named Commander of all Korean military, but was eventually betrayed by the double agent, imprisoned and tortured. With their nemesis out of the way, the Japanese launched a second invasion in 1597, taking the fight to the Koreans with marvelous results. Admiral Yi’s replacement as naval Commander, Won Gyun, had none of the meticulousness or brilliance of Yi and it showed. The Japanese destroyed over 200(!) Korean ships in their first two naval engagements. Admiral Yi was released and restored to command.
Yi’s greatest achievement came in September of 1597 at the “Miracle of Myongyang.” In this battle, various sources list Yi’s forces as between 12 and 16 ships, but all agree the Japanese had overwhelming numbers: over 300 warships. Incredibly, Yi forced a Japanese retreat (sinking or damaging 133 enemy vessels) without losing a ship. This staggering victory, which included the sinking of the Japanese flagship, combined with Ming Chinese reinforcements to the Korean ground troops, caused the Japanese to again abort their plans to conquer Korea and China. With Yi’s superiority on the water, though, the Japanese had a hard time getting their troops home.
Yi met his end harassing the returning troop transports. On November 19, 1598, Yi’s forces managed to sink or fire half of a Japanese transport fleet, but Yi was mortally wounded in the action. With his dying breaths, Yi commanded his nephew, Yi Pun, to don the Admiral’s armor and assume command to keep the troops from losing morale.
Yi was awarded a slew of posthumous honors by the Korean government, being declared everything short of God. Historical analysis of Yi yields nothing but the highest praise. In 1905, Japanese Admiral Togo, on being hailed as a “God of War,” replied “I appreciate your compliment. But... if there ever were an Admiral worthy of the name of ‘god of war’, that one is Yi Sun-sin. Next to him, I am little more than a petty officer.” Even Brits acknowledge that Yi may have been a better commander than their revered Horatio Nelson, who bested a slightly larger Napoleonic force at Trafalgar.
Yi is justifiably revered in Korea to this day. He has a large statue overlooking the port of Pusan. He was chosen by 44% of respondents to a nationwide poll as the greatest Korean. He is a national hero worthy of every accolade bestowed on him. It seems he should maybe be ranked even higher on this list, but he is (unjustly, for sure) penalized for not being primarily a ground commander.
