Turtle ship

[1] Turtle ships participated in the war against Japanese naval forces supporting Toyotomi Hideyoshi's attempts to conquer Korea from 1592 to 1598.

[2] Korean Admiral Yi Sun-sin, who won all battles against the Japanese Navy, is credited with designing the improved turtle ship.

[18] Historian Stephen Turnbull, however, points out the fact that in February 1593 the Japanese government ordered the military to use an iron plate in building ships, possibly in response to the Korean attacks.

[14] Samuel Hawley has suggested that the idea of ironclad turtle ships has its origins in the writings of late 19th-century Westerners returning from Korea.

[17][19] The progression from simple comparison to a statement that the turtle ships anticipated the modern ironclad by centuries can be roughly charted in retrospect, starting no earlier than ca.

[22] The turtle ship was equipped with cheonja "heaven", jija "earth", hyeonja "black", and hwangja "yellow" type chongtong (Joseon cannons).

According to Hae-Ill Bak, one Japanese record of the Battle of Angolpo records the experience of two Japanese commanders on July 9, 1592, in their battle against turtle ships: "their (turtle ships') attack continued until about 6 o'clock in the afternoon by firing large fire-arrows through repeated alternate approaches, even as close as 18–30 feet.

As a result, almost every part of our ships—the turret, the passages and the side shielding—were totally destroyed..."[22] A dragon's head was placed on the top of the ship at the bow.

One version carried a projector that could release a dense toxic smoke that was generated to obscure vision and interfere with the Japanese ability to maneuver and coordinate properly.