Battle of Myeongnyang: 13 Ships Against a Fleet of 130

October 1597. Admiral Yi Sun-sin has 13 warships left, and a Japanese fleet of more than 130 is sailing at him through a channel 300 meters wide. This is the story of the Battle of Myeongnyang, and of the man his own king had thrown into prison. In 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's armies landed in Korea and swept toward Seoul. Only the sea held them back, and the sea belonged to Admiral Yi Sun-sin, a naval commander who had never lost a battle. Then a double agent's trap, a jealous court and a rival named Won Gyun brought him down. Arrested and tortured, stripped of rank, he lost his mother and then his entire fleet at Chilcheonryang, where the Korean navy was destroyed in a single night. When the king recalled him, Yi had twelve ships, an order to give up the sea, and an enemy fleet heading for the Yellow Sea. In this history documentary, we follow the Imjin War from the first landings at Busan to the Roaring Channel, and see how one admiral turned a narrow strait, a reversing tide and the fear of his own captains into weapons. SOURCES AND FURTHER READING War Diary of Admiral Yi Sun-sin (Nanjung Ilgi), translated by Ha Tae-hung Samurai Invasion: Japan's Korean War 1592-98 by Stephen Turnbull A Dragon's Head and a Serpent's Tail: Ming China and the First Great East Asian War, 1592-1598 by Kenneth M. Swope Subscribe for the next story from history's forgotten turning points. Business inquiries: [cokondu1@gmail.com] #History #YiSunSin #NavalHistory