How Yi Sun-sin Made 13 Ships Fight Together | Myeongnyang

At the Battle of Myeongnyang in 1597, Yi Sun-sin had thirteen Korean warships—and captains who initially held back. This illustrated history follows how a surviving fleet, signals, ship crews and the narrow water of Uldolmok helped them fight together. The battle account follows Yi's war diary in translation, with naval-history context. Enemy ship totals vary between accounts; thirty-one enemy vessels destroyed is Yi's reported figure. Maps show sourced geographic relationships and explain constraints, rather than exact battle tracks, fleet positions or a minute-by-minute tide schedule. Watch next: The Fort Fell. How Did Malta Survive the Great Siege?    • The Fort Fell. How Did Malta Survive the G...   Explore Survival Against the Odds    • Survival Against the Odds   All story artwork is in our painted stickman style. Scenes, clothing, ship layouts and diagrams are illustrative reconstructions, not archival evidence or exact records of ceremonies. The approved What Time Built opening retains its existing soundtrack; no additional music accompanies the story. CHAPTERS 00:00 The gap behind him 01:09 A war arrives from the sea 02:29 What a navy could change 03:44 The fleet before the disaster 04:53 A commander removed 06:09 What was left 07:26 Rebuilding a fighting force 08:39 A ship built to keep working 09:52 The narrow water 11:04 The sea is not a clockwork weapon 12:18 The orders before the battle 13:21 The approaching ships 14:26 The flagship under pressure 15:38 Calling the captains forward 16:46 At the side of the ship 17:55 A fleet begins to fight together 19:11 Counting a victory carefully 20:21 What thirteen ships could preserve 21:31 The war beyond Myeongnyang 22:48 What the record leaves us SOURCES Yi Sun-sin, Nanjung Ilgi, translated by Tae-Hung Ha, edited by Pow-Key Sohn (1977), and Ryu Song-nyong, The Book of Corrections (2002); excerpts in The Korea Society's curriculum packet: https://www.koreasociety.org/images/p... Heidi Holz, Complementary Keys to Naval Victory, U.S. Naval Institute (2009): https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-... Samuel J. Hawley, The Imjin War, RAS Korea Branch 78 (2003), pp. 47–55: https://anthony.sogang.ac.kr/transact... Byun, Lee and Lee, A Revisit to the Myungryang Naval Battle through Hindcasting Tidal Currents and Tides (2011). Abstract and bibliographic record consulted: https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/se... #Myeongnyang #YiSunSin #ImjinWar