Turtle ship

The Turtle Ship (also known as Geobukson or Kobukson by its Korean name) was a large ironclad warship belonging to Panokseon class in Korea under the Joseon Dynasty between the 15th century and 18th century . 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 the Imjin War.

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.

Construction of Turtle Ships

According to Nanjung Ilgi, which is a personal diary of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, Admiral Yi decided to resurrect Turtle Ship in 1591 after discussing with his subordinates. With the help of them, Admiral Yi constructed the first Turtle Ship. Admiral Yi had readied the Turtle Ship because of his foresight of a Japanese invasion. This invasion was later known as the Seven-Year War.

The Admiral's diary, along with a book entitled Hangrok by the Admiral's 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, Admiral 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. Admiral Yi's prediction of the war was correct.

Structure of the Turtle Ship

There are several different versions of the Turtle Ships served during the war but in general they were about 100 to 120 feet long (30 to 37 meters long), and strongly resembled the panokson's bottom structure. The Turtle Ship was technically a hull covered with iron plates that was placed on top of a panokson and a large anchor held in the front of the ship.

A dragon head was mounted on the bow of the vessel which emitted foggy sulfur gas to effectively disarray the enemy fleet formulation as well as to hide the ship itself among enemy ships. The dragon head was large enough for a cannon to fit inside it too. The dragon head served as an early form of psychological warfare by shocking Japanese soldiers.

In the front of the ship was a large anchor and below the anchor was a painted "face" that served as a ramming tool.

Like the panokseon, the Turtle Ship had two masts and two sails. It also had oars to help speed up the Turtle Ship. Unlike the Japanese ships, the Turtle Ship could turn within its own radius. Another main advantage was that the Turtle Ship did not rely solely on the wind and oar propulsion could be used instead.

The Turtle Ship had 10 oars and 11 cannon portholes on each side. Usually, there was one cannon porthole in the dragonhead's mouth. There were 2 more cannon portholes on the front and back of the Turtle Ship. The heavy cannons enabled the Turtle Ships to unleash a mass volley of cannonballs. One Turtle Ship could hold about 100 to 120 fighting marines and about 50 oarsmen. Usually, there were about 50 to 60 soldiers and 70 oarsmen. There was also a commander of the ship.

On the top of the Turtle Ship, hexagonal plates with sharp iron spikes protruding from them covered the upper half of the Turtle Ship. One of the main advantages of the plates were that they protected the Korean oarsmen and sailors from arquebus fire and arrows. The spikes meant to discourage Japanese sailors to board the ships because the Japanese used the primary method of grappling an enemy ship with hooks and boarding it to engage in hand to hand combat.

Korean written descriptions all point to a maneuverable ship, capable of sudden bursts of speed. Like the panokseon, the Turtle Ship was a U-shaped bottomed ship which gave it the advantage of a more stable cannon firing platform and the ability to turn within its own ratio. The main disadvantage of a U-shaped bottom versus a V-shaped bottom is a somewhat slower cruising speed.

Unlike popular belief, there were around only three to six Turtle Ships in the Korean Navy during the Imjin War while the mainstay of the Korean Navy was the panokseon warship which was roughly the equal size of the Turtle Ship. This was because of the heavy resources necessary to build turtle ships.

There were only several turtle ships commissioned during the seven-year war because the ship was indicated as a three-storied mamoth, large enough in size to be compared to a modern ship, in a painting found in a Japanese castle. Cannons were positioned on the third floor, archers on the second floor, and troops on the first floor. There were also numerous handles that were thought to be used to release water and supress any fires onboard. Many weapons and functions found in the painting are thought by historians to have been years before their time.

Notes on iron cladding

The Turtle Ship is very noticeable by its iron plates that cover the entire top of the ship. The Turtle Ship is famous because it is considered to be first ironclad warships in world history.

The armor was hexagonal iron platings with sharp spikes protruding from them. Admiral Yi had iron plates covered on the Turtle Ship to counter the effective and main Japanese attack method of boarding an enemy ship after grappling it with hooks and killing the enemy soldiers with melee weapons, much like Ancient Rome's naval strategies.

Besides protecting the Turtle Ship from boarding attacks, the iron plates proved effective in preventing bullets and cannonballs as well. This made the Turtle Ships extremely durable and could survive many battles without sinking or receiving major damage. Probably the only time Turtle Ships were ever destroyed and sunk, was at the Battle of Chilchonryang in 1597. After the Battle of Chilchonryang, all the Turtle Ships were sunk and finally made their appearance in the last naval battle of the war at the Battle of Noryang Point.

There has been some debate as to whether or not the Turtle Ship really had iron cladding. Korean tradition strongly supports iron cladding and Japanese written documents clearly describe the Turtle Ships as "covered in iron." Furthermore, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had a written request sent to Tokugawa Ieyasu for iron plating to "counter" the Korean navy, which could be taken as strong circumstantial evidence.

The Turtle Ships were crucial in securing victory in several sea battles such as the Battle of Sacheon and the Battle of Noryang Point. The Turtle Ships inflicted heavy losses upon the Japanese fleet and eventually forced the Japanese to withdraw back to Japan.

In every single battle that Admiral Yi fought, he never lost a single naval battle, lost a very minimal number of soldiers, and at the end of the war, hundreds of Japanese ships sank and thousands of Japanese soldiers were under the ground.

It is interesting to note that Admiral Yi had the spikes covered with hay to hide the spikes so that the Japanese soldiers would be injured or killed during their attempts to board the ship.

Weapons

The Turtle Ship several different weapons that it could use.

Function of the dragon head

The position of the dragon head was placed on the top of the ship in the front. There were several different versions of the dragon head on the Turtle Ships. The dragon head was first placed as an early form of psychological warfare to shock Japanese soldiers. One version carried a tube which could release a dense toxic smoke that was generated from a mixture of sulphur and saltpetre produced in the bowels of the ship. The smoke was designed to obscure the vision and interfere with the Japanese ability to function properly.Google Book Search. ^* Another version had a cannon placed in its mouth so that the ship would appear to be more threatening.

Admiral Yi's own diary explains that a cannon could be fitted in the mouth of the dragon to be fired at enemy ships.Google Book Search. ^*

Cannon

The Turtle Ship, like the Panokson, could hold around 30 cannons. Usually, there were 11 gunports on each side and 2 gunports on the front and back. Several different versions of the Turtle Ship included about 24 to 36 cannons. A cannon was also placed inside the Turtle Ship's mouth. Because of the gunports located all around the Turtle Ship, it could fire in any given direction.

The Turtle Ship was equipped with Chon(Heaven), Ji(Earth), Hyun(Black), Hwang(Brown), Seung(Victory) cannons. The Seung cannon was the lightest that ranged 200 meters while the Chon was the strongest with a range of 600 meters. The Hyun and Hwang cannons were medium sized cannons that usually shot fire arrows instead of cannonballs.

The cannons were the main advantage of the Turtle Ships over the Japanese ships since cannons enabled the Turtle Ship to destroy an enemy ship at a distance.

Tactical use

Iron platings on the Turtle Ship made it nearly impossible for Japanese ships to destroy because they had no cannons to counter the Turtle Ship with. The iron platings allowed the Turtle Ship to take heavy damage from enemy cannons. Also, as already mentioned, the iron platings countered arquebuse bullets and arrows as well, protecting the Turtle Ship's crew immensely.

Admiral Yi first designed the Turtle Ship as a close assault vessel, intended to ram enemy ships and sinking them. It was first used to row directly into enemy ship formations and disrupt their lines. After ramming, the Turtle Ship would unleash a broadside of cannonballs around its entire area. Because of this tactic, the Japanese called the Turtle Ship the mekurabune (目蔵船), or "blind ships," because they would get close and seemingly blast and ram into enemy ships. This kind of attack was used during the Dangpo Battle, Battle of Okpo, and Battle of Sacheon (1592).

The Turtle Ship also became a great anti-boarding vessel, due to the closed cover of the Turtle Ship and its iron spikes that protruded from the plates. Grappling hooks would have no effect and jumping on the Turtle Ship would mean a stab to the foot or hand.

Later, the Turtle Ship was used for other purposes such as spearheading attacks or ambushing Japanese ships in tight areas such as the Battle of Noryang.

Despite popular depiction, the Turtle Ship was not an extremely slow ship. The Turtle Ship had oar propulsion as well as sails. Admiral Yi constructed the Turtle Ship to be fast and agile for ramming purposes.

Turtle ships in popular culture

Games

Turtle Ships were a featured unique unit for the Korean civilization in the computer game The Conquerors Expansion. The game featured a scenario in which the player commands Admiral Lee Sun-sin's fleet against the Japanese armada, a reenactment of the Battle of Noryang Point. They also appear in an Aztec campaign as an easter egg: The player will find a few Turtle Ships in a corner of the map. A mod in Civilization III Play the World and Conquests introduced Turtle Ships as well, they also exist in the Admiral Lee Campaign of Dawn of the Modern World. They were best used in their historical manner; not on the high seas where their enemies could outmaneuver and out range them, but in defense in a smaller area, such as rivers or small lakes.

In Dawn of the Modern World, the Turtle Ships are introduced as a powerful ship that turn the tide of battles against the Japanese. In single player and multiplayer modes, a player may choose to be Korea and build Turtle Ships. Turtle Ships in Empires, unlike Age of Empires II, are not slow or have inferior range. In the game, the Turtle Ships can shoot a massive broadside on an enemy ship. How a player can use turtle ships is a lot less accurate than Age of Empires II but its importance is emphasized in the campaign.

In Pirates of the Burning Sea, a sea based MMORPG set in the Caribbean, also features a Turtle Ship.

Reconstructions

Gau-Book-Saun Yaun-Goo-Won (거북선연구원)거북선연구원. HOME has done much research on the original design of the Turtle Ship; and made several real-size reconstructions of them for commercial use. Models of the Turtle Ship are popular as decoration or gift.우리살림. 거북선 모형 조립키트(1:100)거북선 Today, people can visit and go inside a 1:1 scale Turtle Ship that is anchored at Yeosu.

Naval Ship

Although no modern naval ship has been named 'Geobukseon' (or 'Turtle Ship'), Korea's new KDX-II class destroyer operational since 2003 is named 'Chungmugong Yi SunShin'.GlobalSecurity.org. KDX-II Destroyer

Notes

The first account is in the Annals of King Taejong, Year 13, early in the 5th lunar month.

References

External links

Historical Facts and Faulty Myth About Kobukson
Admiral Yi Soon-shin and the Turtle Ship
New Book Sparks Controversy Over 'Turtle Ship'
Japanese Invasions of Korea (includes details of geobukson use)

Weapons of Korea | Joseon Dynasty | Battleships of Korea

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