THE KOREAN TURTLE SHIP - PRIDE OF
THE KOREAN NAVY, 1592
The most famous Korean warship of all was the turtle
ship, a vessel forever associated with Admiral Yi Sun-sin,
the saviour of Korea. In terms of shape it lay full square
in the long Korean tradition of ships that were both wide
and solidly built. It was certainly strong enough to ram an
enemy ship, but this was not its primary function. The
resulting curved finish of the roof meant that the ship
was completely enclosed. It certainly did resemble a
turtle shell, and provided the man-made equivalent of its
protection. The ship had six oars on each side. The
dragon head was prominent, and another face was
added below. The high sides show unmistakable
gunports, and the hexagonal patterns on the curved roof
make the whole vessel look much like a sea turtle.
The reconstruction here is based on the reproduction
turtle ship in the War Memorial Museum, Seoul, and
the 1:1 vessel at Yosu. It has a shell of hexagonal
metal plates with central spikes, and is built very
solidly from stout timbers in typical Korean style. The
sail is shown in use to illustrate its construction. There
is a cannon underneath the ornate figurehead, and
others down the side. The cutaway section shows a
team of oarsmen operating a typical yuloh-type oar,
which is screwed through the water rather than being
dragged. Beind them, a cannon is being rolled out for
action. This is shown in greater detail in the inset
diagram at top right, which shows how the cannon
barrel was secured by ropes to the simple box-like
gun carriage.
THE NIHON MARU, FLAGSHIP OF THE
JAPANESE NAVY, IS HOLED BY A TURTLE SHIP
DURING THE BATTLE OF ANGOLP'O, 1592
Nihon maru, a name that translates as 'HMS Japan', was
originally built by Kuki Yoshitaka in 1591 to be Toyotomi
Hideyoshi's flagship, and the name reflected his ambition to
go on from Japan to rule the world. It was very large in size,
putting it in the tessen or o atake bune class, and the
impressive superstructure, which made it look like a floating
Japanese castle, contained three 18-mat rooms arranged in
a three-storey 'keep' with white-washed walls under a
graceful curved roof. It was probably originally intended as
Hideyoshi's royal yacht, and thus designed to impress his
visitors as much as his ornate palaces did, but during the
Korean War it went into action during the battle of Angolp'o
in 1592 under the command of Kuki Yoshitaka.
Angolp'o came about as a result of the famous
Japanese defeat by Admiral Yi's turtle ships at the battle of
Hansando. The Koreans fired conventional bows and
arrows, which went through the threefold curtain as far as
the second fold, but ended up being stopped at the final
layer. They then moved in at close range, and when they
fired the cannons they destroyed the central side of Nihon
maru for three feet in each direction, but the carpenters
had been ordered to prepare for this in advance, and
promptly made repairs. The moment of impact by Korean
cannonballs is shown. Splinters fly in all directions. Note
how the turtleship has packed away its sails before going
into action.
A KOREAN P'ANOKSON SHIP LAYS DOWN A
FIERCE BARRAGE OF HUGE IRON-TIPPED
WOODEN ARROWS AGAINST THE JAPANESE
FLEET AT THE BATTLE OF OKP'O, 1592
Here we see the main vessel type of the Korean navy blasting
the Japanese fleet during the first naval encounter of the
Korean War. The p'anokson ('board-roofed' or 'superstructured'
ships) had two decks, so that the oarsmen below
were separated from the fighting sailors above. A rudimentary
castle on the deck provided a command post for the captain.
Being typically Korean, the p'anokson was very solidly built,
and the sizes of different p'anokson are usually noted as being
either 50, 60 or 70 feet long at the bottom plates, with the
largest on record being 110 feet long. All had a complement of
125 men and had both sail and oar propulsion. They were
often ornamented with dragons painted on the sides. Sturdy
p'anokson such as these made up the vast majority of the
ships in the Korean navy that fought the Japanese in 1592. At
the battle of Okp'o, for example, we read of 25 p'anokson.
The Koreans always favoured bombardment in the
Chinese style rather than boarding, and ended up producing
the most advanced range of shipboard cannon in East Asia.
Here we see their favoured weapon; cannon mounted on
mobile wooden carriages. Admiral Yi directs action from the
deck castle. Contrary to popular belief, Admiral Yi never
commanded a turtle ship in battle. In addition to cannon,
bows are used. The inset diagram shows a cross-section.
WARSHIPS OF THE ATAKA BUNE AND SEKI
BUNE TYPES ARE USED DURING THE FIRST
BATTLE OF KIZUGAWAGUCHI BETWEEN ODA
NOBUNAGA AND MORI TERUMOTO, 1576
The ataka bune was the battleship of any Sengoku
daimyo's navy. It was solidly built but quite sluggish, and
looked like a floating wooden box. The whole of the side
surface was one blank wall of thick wooden planks pierced
with small loopholes for guns and bows, protecting the
oarsmen along with the samurai. There was an open upper
deck protected by a low bulwark that was an extension of
the sidewalls. In some versions a 'cabin', again very solidly
built, sat on the deck. In addition to oar propulsion there
was a mast from which a large sail was hung bearing the
daimyo's mon (badge) in a bold stencilled or painted design.
The mast was pivoted centrally, and folded down when the
ship went into action, and a door opened on to the flatended
open bows where the anchors were stowed. The
medium warship was known as a seki bune, which looked
like a smaller version of the ataka bune but had a noticeably
pointed bow tasselled with coiled rope. The protection was
very similar but there was usually no deck house. The
rudder was operated from the open deck. They were
crewed by 40 oarsmen, and carried 30 fighting men armed
with one cannon and 20 arquebuses. The seki bune formed
the backbone of any feudal navy.At the rear we have
included one version of the kobaya, the lightest of the three
standard fighting ships. This one has lower side rails than
the kobaya shown on page 47. The kobaya was more
manoeuvrable than a seki bune, even though many were of
a similar size.
Большие корабли иногда бронировались бронзовыми пластинами и почти всегда завешивались перед боем смоченными в воде воловьими шкурами для защиты от зажигательных снарядов.
A MEKURA BUNE, DEFENDED BY BAMBOO
PALINGS, CARRIES OUT A SURPRISE SHIP-TOSHORE
BOMBARDMENT AGAINST AN
OUTLYING FORT OF OSAKA CASTLE, 1614
The mekura bune (literally 'blind ship') was very similar to a
kobaya, the smallest and fastest of the standard Japanese
ships, which had no wooden planking as side protection,
although some versions had wooden walls at the front.
Instead of the cloth curtains that were hung from the
kobaya's surrounding frame, one-foot-diameter bamboo
bundles were suspended to give a light but absorbent
protective screen all round. A pitched bamboo roof of
similar construction lay along the boat. Four square holes
were cut on each side, through which poked the barrels of
eight European breech-loading swivel guns with their
mounting spikes sunk into the vertical posts of the mekura
bune's sides. Each gun had a crew of three men: a loader
who dropped the breech container into the space and
forced a retaining wedge in behind it; the aimer, whose
hands were on the wooden tiller added behind the breech;
and the firer, who stood ready with a fuse on a short
linstock. To make room for these eight guns and their crews
the number of oars was cut back to 18 on each side.
The wooden walls of the Osaka forts were particularly
susceptible to bombardment from cannonballs. The mekura
bune carries flags bearing the Tokugawa mon (badge). In
the first inset diagram, the three-man crew are shown
in action. The breech-tube is being lowered into the rear of
the muzzle. The central diagram shows the protection
afforded In the bows of the vessel by a hinged door. To
the right we see a cross-section showing the oarsmen
and gunners. There is a heavy layer of ballast around
the heel.
THE RIVER BATTLE FLEET OF THE EARLIER
(OR WESTERN) HAN DYNASTY IS ATTACKED BY
REBEL FIRESHIPS, 200 ВС
The Earlier (or Western) Han dynasty took over from the Qin
dynasty in 202 ВС. Here we see their river battle fleet coming
under attack from rebels who have floated crude fireships
down the river towards them. Much of the detail of the Han
battleships is conjecture, because only crude illustrations
have survived, so these have to be augmented by eyewitness
descriptions. The large multi-storey vessels are likely to have
been built as rafts mounted over two similar flat-bottomed
hulls like an ungainly catamaran, with very simple multi-storey
deck castles decreasing in size like a wedding cake. There are
simple bulwarks round the lower deck level of the ship, which
are repeated as the storeys increase. The commander stands
proud and undaunted in the prow. In the uppermost tower of
the ship a drummer encourages the men into action, a display
of power that is added to by the numerous flags that the
vessel is flying. The ship's offensive armament is provided by
hand-held crossbows.
Beside the big ship are simpler and smaller boats. The
largest of these is based on a wooden model of a river boat
found in a prince's tomb, which has provided vital clues to
the appearance of a simple war vessel of the Han dynasty. It
is a flat-bottomed barge operated by oarsmen, with a
steersman in the stern and a simple wooden 'cabin'. There
are also two smaller versions, one of which has an
iron-tipped ram mounted on its bows. The ram itself is a
carved tree trunk that stretches the entire length of the boat.
Finally, 'war canoes' are paddled by five men. Details of the
equipment worn by the 'marines' are taken from the famous
near-contemporary terracotta army of the Qin emperor at
Xian, together with carvings from the Early Han Period, which
show a remarkable similarity. The helmets, where worn, are of
leather or iron, and have a strange modern look to them. The
fireships have been made by converting simple sampans.
A TANG DYNASTY TOWER SHIP HOLDS A
SONG DYNASTY WAR JUNK WITH ITS STRIKING
ARMS AND PROJECTS GREEK FIRE, AD 975
In this plate we see a battle on the Yangtze River near Nanjing
in 975 between the Song and the Tang, who were competing
for power. The Tang are fighting from a three-storey lou chuan
(tower ship). These classic Chinese battleships were of
multi-storey construction, but with straight sides, unlike the
Han dynasty ships seen in Plate A. There were portholes and
other openings for crossbows and lances. Trebuchets were
mounted on the uppermost deck beside portable forges for
molten iron projectiles. On its wide and curved bow was
painted a fierce tiger's face in lieu of a carved figurehead. A
door gave access to the bow areas and the sides from the
castled area.
The war junks resembled the tower ships in their design
but were of a smaller-sized, one-storey construction and less
well protected. Just as with the tower ships, the oarsmen
operated outside the central deckhouse, but there was
a raised stern castle from where the captain directed
operations.
This plate shows a remarkable addition to the tower
ship's usual armament. In Chinese naval warfare the preferred
tactic was usually not boarding but bombardment, whether
by catapult projectiles or a heavy fire from crossbows. This
led to a unique Chinese variation on the grappling iron that
was designed to keep an enemy ship at a chosen distance
rather than secure it alongside. They were called 'striking
arms', and consisted of some form of 'hammer head', such
as heavy iron spikes, mounted on the ends of 50-feet-long
poles which were securely hinged to the attacking vessel's
superstructure. An illustration from the Tang dynasty shows
three arms mounted on each side of a tower ship. When the
ship came alongside an enemy vessel the striking arms would
be released and would fall in an arc to hit the deck of the
opponent. In the case of a small-sized boat the hammer
smashing through the woodwork might well sink it. If the
enemy ship was still afloat it would of course now be held fast
to the attacker, but the primary intention of this was never to
provide a platform for boarding. Instead the arms would hold
the ship securely at a distance suitable for close-range work,
in this case Greek Fire, the secret weapon of Byzantium
transmitted to China and used both in naval warfare and siege
work. However, records tell us that on this occasion the
weapon almost literally backfired, because when the Tang
projected the petrol from the flame throwers a sudden north
wind sprang up and swept the smoke and flames over the sky
towards their own ships. The Song marines fight back with
crossbows.