Battle of Myeongnyang In the Battle of Myeongnyang , on October 26 , 1597 , the Joseon Admiral Yi Sun - sin fought the Japanese navy in the Myeongnyang Strait , near Jindo Island , off the southwest point of the Korean peninsula . With 13 ships remaining from Won Gyun ' s disastrous defeat at the Battle of Chilchonryang , Admiral Yi held the strait against a fleet of 133 Japanese warships and at least 200 logistical support ships . Many Japanese warships were sunk or disabled during the battle and the Japanese were forced to retreat . Given the disparity in numbers , the battle is regarded as one of Admiral Yi ' s most remarkable victories . Background . Due to Japanese intrigue taking advantage of the fractious politics of the Joseon Dynasty court , Admiral Yi Sunsin was impeached and almost put to death . Yi was instead tortured and demoted to the rank of a common soldier . Yi ' s rival , Admiral Won Gyun , took command of the Joseon fleet , which under Yi ' s careful management had grown from 63 heavy warships to 166 . Won Gyun was an incompetent military commander who immediately began squandering the Joseon Navy ' s strength through ill - conceived maneuvers against the Japanese naval base at Pusan . In the Battle of Chilchonryang , the Japanese navy , with Todo Takatora in overall command , outmaneuvered the Korean navy and virtually wiped it out . Soon afterwards , the Japanese reinforced their garrisons in Pusan and various forts in the southern coast of Korea , and began the second invasion . With the Joseon Navy taken out of the scene , the Japanese believed that they now had access to the Yellow Sea and could resupply their troops through this sea route as they advanced northward . In the 1592 campaigns , Admiral Yi prevented the Japanese from resupplying their troops in this manner and kept their ships holed up at their main bases in Pusan Harbor . Battle . Admiral Yi Sun - sin was hastily reinstated as Supreme Commander of the Regional Navies after Won Gyun was killed at the Battle of Chilchonryang . Yi only had 12 panokseon ships at his disposal , which had been saved by Bae Seol , a Joseon officer who escaped early in the Battle of Chilchonryang . At that time , King Seonjo , who judged that the Joseon navy had lost its power and would never be restored again , sent a letter to abolish the navy and join the ground forces under General Gwon Yul . Admiral Yi famously responded with a letter written " " . . . I still have twelve battle ships . . . and I am still alive , the enemy shall never be safe in the Western Sea . " " Later , one more ship joined with Yi and his small fleet numbered 13 . Although Yi only found 100 sailors initially , some of the survivors of Chilchonryang flocked to him , and he had at least 1 , 500 sailors and marines by the end of September . After studying numerous arenas for his last stand with the Japanese navy , Admiral Yi decided on the Myeongnyang Strait . It had very strong currents that flowed at approximately 10 knots , first in one direction , then in the opposite direction , in three hour intervals . Admiral Yi realized he could use this unique condition as a force multiplier . The narrowness of the strait would prevent the Joseon fleet from being flanked by the numerically superior enemy fleet , and the roughness of the tide prevented the Japanese from effectively enveloping them . By using the shadows of the surrounding hillsides , Yi would be able to establish a visibility advantage for his fleet . And finally , the strait was sufficiently narrow that steel wire could be strategically tightened across its whole width . His ships were docked in the " Byeokpajin " about late August in the lunar calendar " . " From that time , Japanese ships were detected in nearly every mild days . Belows are from his diary ( date written in the lunar calendar ) . Day 3 ~ 6 September : Bad weathers . Day 7 : Sunny . After wind calm , Japanese attacked twice , at noon and night . Day 8 : Sunny . Day 9 : Sunny . Detected and chased Japanese ships . Day 10 : Sunny . Japanese ships were detected and ran away . Day 11 : Sunny . Day 12 ~ 14 : Bad weathers On the morning of 26 October ( 17 September in the lunar calendar ) , the huge Japanese Fleet attacked . He described as " As About 200 enemy ships were flowing , I promised with my men and moved to intercept the enemy . And about 130 ships were surrounded our fleet . " in his diary . And the Battle began . Using double salvo cannon fire , the Koreans threw a barrage which quickly began damaging Japanese vessels . In the shadow of the hillsides , Yi ' s ships were difficult to target . The Joseon ships had flat bottoms that provided more stable and accurate cannon firing platforms than the Japanese ships , which had keel bottoms . But from beginning to mid - time , only commandship fought in the battle . other 12 ships were in backfront of the field , didn ' t fight and waited for time to ran away . In the diary , " Commandship was alone in the enemy formation . Only my ship fired cannons and arrows . All the other ships didn ' t advanced , so I couldn ' t assurance future things . All officers were seeking for run , as they knew this battle was facing massive forces with small . Ship of Kim Eok - chu ( 김억추 ) , the Officer of Jeolla Right erea was at 1 " majang " ( 2 ~ 3km ) away . " Floating in the water and moving towards the Koreans along the current was a body with the ornate armor of a Japanese daimyo . The body was hauled aboard by Admiral Yi ' s men and identified as Kurushima Michifusa , the commander of the vanguard units of the Japanese fleet and the brother of the late Kurushima Michiyuki , killed in 1592 by Admiral Yi at the Dangpo Battle . Yi ordered Kurushima ' s head cut off and posted on the mast of his flagship . At the sight of their commander ' s head , Japanese morale dropped . After that , Finally Ahn Wi ( 안위 ) overcome fear and joined the battle , and then other ships except Kim Eok - Chu ' s ship were also joined . The tide soon shifted and the Japanese ships began to drift backwards and collide with each other . In the confusion , Admiral Yi ordered his ships to advance and press the attack , destroying ships out of all proportion to their relative numbers . The dense formation of Japanese ships crowded in the narrow strait made a perfect target for Joseon cannon fire . The strong tides prevented those in the water from swimming to shore , and many Japanese sailors who abandoned sinking or damaged ships drowned . After the Japanese lost 31 warships and many others received significant damage , their fleet was no longer combat effective , and thus they retreated . ( General Yi only reported the number of complete destroyed ships to the government during the war ) This victory prevented the Japanese from entering the Yellow Sea and resupplying their army , which had recently fought against Joseon and Chinese armies in the Battle of Jiksan ( Cheonan ) and was headed towards the capital city of Hanseong ( Seoul ) . With their supplies and reinforcements cut off via the sea route , the Japanese had to halt their advance and begin a general retreat . Aftermath . The immediate results of the battle were a shock to the Japanese command . Without being resupplied or reinforced , the morale of the Japanese soldiers declined . Joseon and Chinese armies were able to regroup and push the Japanese back to their network of fortresses on the southeastern coast of Korea . The victory also freed up the Chinese navy to join Admiral Yi in early 1598 . After the destruction of most of the Joseon fleet at Chilchonryang , the Ming kept their navy stationed at important port cities to guard against possible Japanese naval attacks . The victory at Myeongnyang convinced the Ming government that they could ease security at their major ports and mobilize a fleet to Joseon ' s aid . The Japanese navy was heavily damaged ( at least 31 battleships destroyed ) . As previously mentioned , Kurushima was killed , and Todo Takatora ( the hero of Chilchonryang ) was wounded . The Japanese navy retreated to Busan to refit and would not be in fighting condition for several months , providing time for the Koreans to rebuild their fleet and the Chinese to bring naval reinforcements . Technical notes . Someone says Yi had steel ropes tightened across the channel between Japanese fleet groups , which severely dampened the Japanese numerical advantage , but 1st reference of these are non - concrete family record about Gim Eok - Chu . The unique tidal conditions of the strait , which Admiral Yi was careful to study beforehand , affected the Japanese in several ways . The Japanese were not incompetent sailors however , and also were not unaware of nor inexperienced in sailing in rough tides as similar conditions existed in Japan . They counted on the rapid tides of the strait and their numerical advantages to break through the Korean line . This turned out to be a miscalculation . First of all , when attacking the Koreans , the Japanese had to do so in smaller groups . The Japanese could not advance all their ships into the channel at the same time ; although the current was moving north , it was still unpredictable , with isolated eddies and whirlpool s , and sending a mass of ships into the channel would cause them to collide with each other . Secondly , when the current reversed and flowed south at the end of three hours , the Japanese ships not only drifted away from the battle , but could not maneuver and ended up colliding with each other even if they avoided the eddy problems . This is probably the major reason why there were so many damaged Japanese ships . Lastly , the rough currents of Myeongnyang made it difficult for anybody who fell overboard or jumped from sinking or burning ships to swim to shore ; most of the Japanese in the water ended up drowning .