The great leader Comrade
"Our people built the mighty turtle-shaped armoured ship, the world's first iron-clad warship."
The resourceful and talented Korean people who created a 5000-year-long history and brilliant culture built the turtle-shaped armoured warship, an iron-clad ship, in the 15th century.
She is the world's first iron-clad ship, which was built 200-300 years before a foreign iron-clad ship.
The Turtle-shaped armoured warship, which was recorded in the history of the world naval war, is a world-class invention and a treasured creation that demonstrated the outstanding wisdom and talents of the Korean nation to the world. She has been recorded and preserved as precious historical data not only in Korea but also in many countries of the world with its unique shape and its original tactics.
Her first model was built in 1413 on the basis of the experience gained in the building of the warships and in the naval battles, and after the first test navigation in the Rimjin River she was remodeled for a long time and then completed in 1592 before the Imjin Patriotic War. Her head looked like a dragon head and her tail like a turtle tail, and her shape was entirely like a prone turtle. After the shape she was named turtle-shaped armoured warship
The 2nd chapter of the book titled "Richungmugongjonso (Biography of Ri Chung Mu) (Chung Mu is the pen name of Ri Sun Sin)", the collection of diaries written by Admiral Ri Sun Sin, who guided the its remodeling and completion, describes its structure and methods of its building.
It says that she was 35 meters long, 11.8 meters wide and 5.2 meters high. Pieces of wood with thickness of 12cm were connected to make the hull in a shape of a curve, which was the unique technique of shipbuilding unprecedented in the world at that time.
In terms of such a technique of shipbuilding, the Japanese book titled "Josonryoksugunsa" (History of Korean Navy Force) said that the turtle-shaped armoured warship was stout because it was built using the unique technique of shipbuilding.
The deck was in the shape of a submarine to prevent water from entrance when waves swept over it and everything in the interior was arranged in favour of combatants' activities, combat command and delivery of battle orders. She had two folding sails that could be erected or laid down when necessary and twenty oars each ten of which was installed on either side to ensure fast movement during a battle.
The direction was controlled with a rudder in the stern and an anchor on the bow was used to stay in port.
The sides and back of the warship were covered with iron plate to prevent enemy's shells and bullets, and the armour of the back was filled with sharp-pointed metal sticks to prevent the enemy from climbing the ship.
She also had powerful means of attacking; it had 72 holes for shooting all over the ship, through which they shot with 1 200-1 400m-range guns, rifles and bows.
Her maximum speed was 7nt(about 13km an hour) and she carried over 148 men, including 80 oarsmen.
She used smoke screen tactics unprecedented in the world at that time; it shot out smoke of burnt sulphur and niter through the mouth of the dragon head on the stern to make it hard for the enemy to breathe and open their eyes properly.
During the Imjin Patriotic War which was started by Japanese invaders from 13th April, 1592, she made a great contribution to the victory of the war by fully displaying its unique might in the major naval battles, including the Hansan Island battle, in which 59 enemy ships were destroyed and the Ryoryang Sea battle, in which more than 200 enemy ships were destroyed.
The Korean navy force led by the patriotic commander Ri Sun Sin dealt a deadly blow to the enemy with the turtle-shaped armoured warship ahead of them in the war against the Japanese invaders.
The turtle-shaped armoured warship, the shock brigade ship of the fleet, played a leading role in applying Hakikzin tactics, which was a crane-shaped attack tactics, and shot gunfire moving freely through hundreds of enemy warships.
The main tactics she used were gunfire, smoke screening and dashing, which were recorded in the history of the world naval battle.
The turtle-shaped armoured warship is a warship built by the Korean ancestors who pioneered and firmly defended the sea from their early years. It is also one of the precious Korean national legacies that clearly shows the patriotism and creative talents of the Korean people.
