Architecting Agility

Yi Sun-sin (March 8, 1545 – November 19,1598), was a Korean naval leader best known for his victories against the Japanese navy during the Seven Year War, during the Joseon Dynasty. He led the Korean navy to victories over the Japanese navy as the Lord High Admiral of the Korean fleet during Japan's April 1592 invasion. He turned back the Japanese with his innovative turtle ships.

He was killed by a stray bullet in the Battle of Noryang Point in November 1598. The court eventually bestowed various honors, including a posthumous title of "chungmugong" (Loyal Martial Lord), an enrollment as a first-class merit subject (Seonmu Ildeung Gongsin), a titular enfeoffment title of "Deokpung Buwongun" (Grand Prince of Deokpung), and a poshumous office, the chief state councillor (Yeonguijeong).

Yi Sun-sin was born in Geoncheon-dong (Korean: 건천동; 乾川洞), Seoul. His family was part of the Yi of Deoksu descent group, whose ancestral seat, Deoksu, was near present-day Kaesong. In 1552, after his father, Yi Jeong, had been falsely accused of a crime, imprisoned, and tortured by the government, the family moved from Seoul to Asan. King Seonjo later cleared Yi Sun-sin’s father’s name after coming to power in 1567.

In 1576, Yi Sun-sin passed the military examination (무과; 武科) and was posted to the northern border region for the next 10 years. In 1583, he lured the Jurchen chief Mu Pai-Nai to battle, defeated his army, and captured him. According to a contemporary tradition, however, Yi Sun-sin then had to spend three years out of the army after hearing of his father’s death. After his return to the front line, Yi Sun-sin led a string of successful campaigns against Jurchen nomads. However, his brilliance, despite his short career, made his superiors jealous, and they falsely accused him of desertion during battle.

Yi Sun-sin was arrested and imprisoned; after his release, Yi was allowed to fight as a common soldier. Upon his release, he had to climb through the ranks again. After a short period of time, he was appointed as the Magistrate of a small county.

Yi Sun-sin's efforts in northern Korea were rewarded in 1591 when the Korean Court assigned Yi Sun-sin to command the naval forces in Jeolla Province (전라도; 全羅道). Here he was able to undertake a buildup of the regional navy, which was later used to confront a Japanese invasion force. He subsequently began to strengthen the nation’s navy with a series of reforms, including the construction of the turtle ship, which was one of the first, if not the first, ironclad warships in history.

Main article: Seven Year War

This Korean admiral played the most decisive role in fighting off the Japanese invaders in 1592 and 1597. In 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi gave the order to invade Korea, planning to sweep through the peninsula and use it as a forward base to conquer China. 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 easily overwhelmed.

Four Campaigns of
Admiral Yi

Main article: The Four Campaigns of Admiral Yi during the Imjin Year (1592)

The invasion force landed at Busan, a port city on the southern tip of Korea, without meeting any Korean ships, and the Japanese forces began a lightning march north, reaching Seoul within nineteen days on May 2 1592 due to the military ineffiecncy of the Korean army. But the Korean navy was not idle. Admiral Yi was quick to attack to destroy Japanese ships throughout all his campaigns. Admiral Yi's Four Campaigns turned the tide of the war for Korea.

Main article: Turtle ship

With his creative mind and the support of his subordinates, Yi was able to devise the geobukseon, or “turtle ships”. Admiral Yi is given the honorable credit for ressurecting and recreating the Turtle Ship to prepare for the war against Japan. Turtle Ships held eleven cannons on each side of the ship, and two each at the stern and the bow. Also, there was a figurehead of a dragon, which held up to four cannons and a smokescreen and served to shock Japanese troops. The roof was covered with hexagonel iron plates and spikes. There were two masts that held as many sails. The geobukseon was steered by twenty oars, pulled by 2 men in fair conditions and 5 in combat situations. It had two decks, one with rowers and the other with cannons. Also, it had small holes in which to fire guns and see the enemy position. Turtle Ships were first used in the Battle of Sacheon (1592) and in later battles that turned the tables for Korea.

Japanese response

But Hideyoshi and his commanders soon adjusted. At Busan, the surviving Japanese warships took aboard some heavier guns and iron plates, and clustered beneath the harbour's defences of heavy shore-mounted cannon. But above all, the Japanese knew that for a successful invasion of Korea, Yi Sun-sin had to be eliminated. No Japanese fleet would be safe as long as his presence was commanding the sea.

Seeing how the internal court rivalries of the Koreans worked, the Japanese devised a plan. A Japanese double agent named Yoshira was sent to the camp of the Korean general Kim Eung-su, and convinced the general that he would spy on the Japanese for the Koreans. Yoshira spent a long time acting as a spy and giving the Koreans what appeared to be valuable information.

One day he told General Kim that the Japanese General Kato Kiyomasa would be coming on a certain date with great Japanese fleet, and insisted that Admiral Yi be sent to lie in wait and annihilate the enemy. General Kim agreed and requested King Seonjo for permission to send Admiral Yi. The general was given permission. When he gave Admiral Yi his orders, the admiral declined, for he knew that the location given by the spy was studded with sunken rocks and was very dangerous. Admiral Yi also refused because he did not trust a single letter of a spy. Admiral Yi always studied his battle plans many times over to ensure victory. A sudden attack was definitely risky.

When General Kim informed the king of Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s declination, Admiral Yi’s enemies at court insisted on his replacement by the pathetic, unorganized Won Kyun and his arrest. As a result, in 1597 Admiral Yi Sun-sin was relieved of command, placed under arrest, taken to Seoul in chains, beaten, tortured, and imprisoned. King Seonjo wanted to have Admiral Yi killed but the admiral’s supporters at court cheifly Yu-Song-nyong, Admiral Yi's childhood friend, convinced the king to spare him due to his past service record. Spared the death penalty, Admiral Yi was again demoted to the rank of a common infantry soldier under the general Kwon Yul. Yi Sun-sin responded to this humiliation as a most obedient subject, going quietly about his work as if his rank and orders were totally appropriate.

Yi's successor, Won Kyun fought against the Japanese Fleet with around 160 battleships and 30,000 crews at Chilchon Straits on Aug. 28, 1597. It was the kind of battle Admiral Yi had always won at, which was careful coordination of enemy movements and strategic moves, but Won Kyun allowed the Japanese to gain the upper hand and board the Korean ships and fight hand to hand combat, which was their primary strategy.

In the battle, the Joseon Navy was completely annihilated except 12 battleships under control of an officer named Bae Sol. Bae Sol ran away before the battle to save the ships knowing the outcome of the battle. Won Kyun ran away during the battle but was killed by the Japanese when he struggled ashore with his remaining army. It is interesting to see that the battle of Chilchon Straits was the only navel battle the Japanese ever won during the war.

King Seonjo who tried to execute Admiral Yi reassigned him as the commander of the Joseon Navy. He found the abandoned 12 battleships and rallied the 200 remnants and survivors. Adding his flagship, Admiral Yi's entire navel force was 13 ships. At that time, King Seonjo who judged that the Joseon Navy had lost their power and would never be restored again, sent a letter to abolish the Navy and fight with General Kwon Yul on land. Admiral Yi responded with a letter written "...I still have twelve battleships... As long as I live, the enemies would never look down on us." The Japanese Navy made up their mind to eliminate the annoying 12 battleships under command of Yi on their way to the capital city of Joseon. On Sep. 15, 1597, Yi decoyed the Japanese fleet consisting of 333 battleship and 100,000 crews within Myongryang Straits and defeated them with only 13 battleships he had. Admiral Yi crushed the Japanese Navy, which lost a staggering amount of at least 120 battleships (31 battleships completely destroyed and more than 90 half-destroyed that lost their functions as battleships). The Battle of Myeongnyang showed that Admiral Yi was a great strategic commander and won even when the odds were against him.

After this battle, Yi made devotion for the recovery of the Joseon Navy and increased the number of battleships and crews. On Nov. 19, 1598, Admiral Yi ambushed and destroyed the Japanese fleet trying to make a full retreat to Japan at Noryang Strait. At dawn, Admiral Yi was encouraging the crews in the fore part of his Flagship in the heat of the battle and personally wielded a bow himself. But sadly, when he ordered the final charge to destroy fleeing Japanese, he was shot on his left chest by a stray bullet by a Japanese arquebusier. Admiral Yi then asked 3 other commanders to keep his death a secret so the Korean morale would not fall. Admiral Yi died in minutes. At the end of the battle thousands of Japanese soldiers died and 450 Japanese battleships were destroyed and only 50 ships were able to return home to Japan. Shimazu Yoshihiro, the Japanese commander at Noryang Strait barely escaped with his life. It was a sad ending to the 7 Year-War between Joseon and Japan.

Admiral Togo Heihachiro of the Imperial Japanese Navy commented on Admiral Yi in his speech during the celebration ceremony after he defeated the Russian Baltic Fleet in 1905, which was considered as the most powerful naval force in the world at that time, as follows:

You may wish to compare me with Lord Nelson. But do not compare me with Korea's Admiral Yi Sun-sin... He is too remarkable for anyone. (from a paper published by the Japanese Institute of Korean Studies (Japanese: 日本朝鮮硏究所))

Admiral Tetsutaro Sato of the Imperial Japanese Navy mentioned the Korean Admiral in his book published 1908:

Throughout history there have been few generals accomplished at the tactics of frontal attack, sudden attack, concentration and dilation. Napoleon, who mastered the art of conquering the part with the whole, can be held to have been such a general, and among admirals, two further tactical geniuses may be named: in the East, Yi Sun-sin of Korea, and in the West, Horatio Nelson of England. Undoubtedly, Yi is a supreme naval commander even on the basis of the limited literature of the Seven-Year War, and despite the fact that his bravery and brilliance are not known to the West, since he had the misfortune to be born in Joseon Dynasty. Anyone who can be compared to Yi should be better than Michiel de Ruyter from Netherlands. Nelson is far behind Yi in terms of personal character and integrity. Yi was the inventor of the iron-clad warship known as the Turtle Ship (Geobukseon). He was a truly great commander and a master of the naval tactics of three hundred years ago. (A Military History of the Emperor (Japanese: 帝國國防史論), p. 399)

During the time of the invasion, it was up to the admiral to supply his fleet. Yi’s navy was cut off from any helping hand from the king’s court and had to fend for itself. Yi often wrote in his war diary how concerned he was about the food supply during winters. His enemy was fully supplied, and always outnumbered him.

Yi himself had never been trained as a navel commander. Korea, called Joseon at the time, did not have any naval training facilities. Although Yi passed the military exams when he was young, he was never trained at an academy. Yi used to be a general, fighting foreign Jurchen tribes invading from Manchuria. In fact, the Battle of Okpo, his first victory against the Japanese fleet, was also his first sea battle ever. None of his subordinates, including his own staff, had ever fought at sea before.

His cannons and guns had longer range and power than the enemy's cannons even while the Japanese had thousands of advanced arquebusiers. His turtle ship, which actually had first set sail the day before the invasion, was very effective in leading the attack and breaking the enemy’s formation.

Yi also wrote numerous poems and diaries, including his most famous Nanjung Ilgi. Most of what we know about Yi comes from his writings.

He used many different formations according to the situation, and capitalized on tides and ocean currents. Admiral Yi also took advantage of his knowledge of the surrounding sea. Many times he lured the enemy to a place where his fleet would have advantage. And through these manipulations, he instilled a fear in the Japanese commanders whenever they patrolled their seas.

At the Battle of Hansando, Admiral Yi had instilled so much fear in the Japanese that their commander broke ranks and routed his fleet - the first and only time any Japanese commander lost courage to a foreign opponent. Admiral Yi’s expertise on naval strategy is apparent in the fact that his successor Won Kyun, even with all of Admiral Yi’s ships and trained crew, could not defeat an enemy fleet of similar might.

One of the greatest legacies of the Admiral was the utter destruction of the Japanese fleet. Through his calculated attacks, he successfully burdened the Japanese navy and the supplies trying to reach their lines near the Chinese border. If Admiral Yi had not commanded the Korean fleet, it is safe to assume that Japan might have continued her conquest into Ming China, and the overall history of Asia would have been completely different. Although perhaps minor to the new Tokugawa leaders, seeing their shameful defeat against Korea encouraged the new leadership to abandon Hideyoshi's dreams of a continental empire. For more than 300 years, Japan never attempted to invade Korea or China. Through the rest of the years until the Meiji Restoration, Japan favored peaceful communications with Korea, and both nations relatively prospered from this mutual association.

Unfortunately for Admiral Yi and perhaps the Joseon dynasty, his reformations on the navy didn't persist and soon disappeared after his death, due to court swindling and corruption in the Joseon government. The turtle ships faded in the annals of Korean history. Despite their experiences in the Seven Years War, the Joseon court decided on a reduced military, especially after the Manchu invasions in the 1630s.

Yi Sun-sin kept a careful record of daily events in a diary, and it is from these entries, along with the reports he sent to the throne during the war, that much about the man has been learned. These works have been published in English as Nanjung Ilgi: War Diary of Admiral Yi Soon Shin, and Imjin Jangcho: Admiral Yi Soon Shin’s Memorials to Court.

Among his direct male descendants, more than two hundred passed the military examination and pursued military careers, hence constituting a most prominent military yangban family of late Joseon. Although Yi's military men descendants did not play the kind of a vital role in the tumultuous factional politics of late Joseon as did the many members of Pyeosan Sin and Neungseong Gu military yangban lines, the court seems to have treated them with respect and care. Many attained important high-level posts in the officialdom. Moreover, at the end of the Joseon period, at least several descendants are known to have become anti-Japanese independence activists. Today, most of Yi's descendants live in or nearby Seoul and Asan; those residing in the Jeolla region appear to be descended from an illegitimate son (seoja).

Legacy and modern
depiction 

Today, Admiral Yi is regarded as one of Korea's greatest (if not the greatest) hero of all time. Koreans look upon Admiral Yi as a man of courage, perserverence, strength, and loyalty to his country.

Yi's posthumous title, Lord of Loyalty and Chivalry (Chungmu-gong, 충무공; 忠武公) is used in Korea’s third highest military honor, the Cordon of Chungmu of the Order of Military Merit and Valour. He was posthumously granted the title of Prince of Deokpoong. Chungmuro (충무로; 忠武路)—a street in downtown Seoul—is also named after him. The city Chungmu, now renamed Tongyeong, on the southern coast of Korea is named in honour of his posthumous title and the site of his headquarters. There is a prominent statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin in the middle of Sejongno in central Seoul.

Two motion pictures have been made based on his life, both entitled Seong-ung Yi Soon Shin (“The Saintly Hero Yi Soon Shin”), the first a 1962 black & white movie, and the second, based upon his war diaries, in color in 1971. There is also a drama series airing on Korean television called “Bulmyul Ui Yi Soon Shin” (“The Immortal Yi Soon Shin”), which shows the events of his life. It premiered on September 4, 2004 in Korea and has become popular in China and the USA as well.

There's a 2005 movie about Yi Sun Shin fighting the Jurchen tribes, fighting along with villagers and North and South Korean soldiers who traveled from 2005 to 1572 with Halley's Comet. There are historical errors, however: when Yi mentions he works for the Jurchens, doesn't dream of being an admiral (he might've as a kid) and he didn't fight the Jurchens in 1572. The movie, Chungoon (천군)or "Heaven's Soldiers" was directed by Min Joon Gi, and was one of the top movies of 2005 Korea.

- Wikipedia