South Korea Travel
| TRAVEL ASIA section:: Cambodia | China | India | Indonesia | Japan | Korea | Malaysia | Myanmar | Philippines | Singapore | Thailand | Vietnam |
|
|
Best Sites about South Korea Travel
Related Story about Korea:
THE TURTLE SHIP
The Turtle Ship, also known as Geobukseon or Kobukson by its Korean name, was a large warship belonging to Panokseon class in Korea under the Joseon Dynasty between the 15th century and 18th century. While many believe it to be an early ironclad ship, the actual design of the early ships, and whether they used iron armor, is unclear. The Korean Admiral Yi Sun-sin is credited for resurrecting and improving the Turtle Ship from an older design, resulting in the craft known today.The turtle ship is famous for its large part in winning sea battles against Japanese ships during Hideyoshi's Invasions of Korea. The first references to Turtle Ships come from 1413 and 1415 records in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. These Turtle Ships were mentioned as spear-ships or ramming ships and were mainly used to thwart Jurchen and Japanese pirates. Later though, these early Turtle Ships soon fell out of use because of a long period of peace, during which Korea flourished.
Turtle Ships equipped with at least five different types of cannons were in use during the Imjin War between Korea and Japan, and later on when Admiral Yi recreated them. There were at least 40 commissioned Turtle Ships in 1782. According to Nanjung Ilgi, which is a personal diary of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, Yi decided to resurrect Turtle Ship in 1591 after discussing with his subordinates. With the help of them, Yi constructed the first Turtle Ship. Yi had readied the Turtle Ship because of his foresight of a Japanese invasion. These invasions were later known as Hideyoshi's Invasions of Korea.
The admiral's diary, along with a book entitled Hangrok by his nephew Yi Beon, described the details about the structures, construction progress, and use of Turtle Ships as well as test of weaponry used in the ships. After a year of research and construction, Yi had his soldiers complete the first Turtle Ship. The Turtle Ship was launched and on March 27, 1592 and the mounted cannons with gunnery-range 300 to 500 meters long were tested on March 12, 1592. The date of testing was coincidentally one day before the war began with the attack of Busan and Tadaejin by Japanese forces. Yi's prediction of the war was correct.
Powered by DWodp live version 1.2.4 Copyright © 2003-2004 Dominion Web
