Background

Due to Japanese intrigue taking advantage of the fractious politics of the Joseon Dynasty court, Admiral Yi Sun-sin 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 Busan. In the Battle of Chilchonryang, the Japanese navy, with Todo Takatora in overall command, outmaneuvered the Joseon navy and virtually wiped it out. Soon afterwards, the Japanese reinforced their garrisons in Busan 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 free 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 Busan harbor.

The Japanese had started the second war and renewed their offensive, laying siege and capturing the city of Namwon in September 26 and fighting the Ming Chinese army to a standstill in Jiksan on September 7. The Japanese army then awaited supplies and reinforcements from their navy, who would need to enter the Yellow Sea to reach the western coast of Korea. The army, thus supported by their navy, planned to make a major push to recapture Hanyang (modern Seoul).

• Outline of Battle of Myeongnyang (1597)
  

  HISTORIC BATTLES

  Battle of Myeongnyang (1597)

  In the Battle of Myeongnyang, on October 26, 1597, the Korean Joseon kingdom's navy, led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin, fought the Japanese navy in the Myeongnyang Strait, near Jindo Island, off the southwest corner of the Korean peninsula. With only 12 ships remaining from Admiral Won Gyun's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Chilchonryang, Admiral Yi held the strait as a "last stand" battle against the Japanese Navy, who were sailing to support their land army's advance towards the Joseon capital of Hanyang (modern-day Seoul). View Historic Battle »

  Background of War: Due to Japanese intrigue taking advantage of the fractious politics of the Joseon Dynasty court, Admiral Yi Sun-sin 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.

  Prelude: 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 initially only had 10 panokseon ships at his disposal, which had been saved by Gyeongsang Right Naval Commander Bae Seol, who retreated early in the Battle of Chilchonryang. Bae Seol had originally saved 12 ships, but lost two while on his retreat towards Hoeryongpo.

  Battle: Admiral Yi studied numerous sites for his last stand with the Japanese navy and decided on luring them into the Myeongryang Strait. The Japanese would clearly enter the strait when the tide was favorable; thus, he didn't want to fight south of the strait, with the current at the attacker's advantage.

  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 Ming armies were able to regroup. Even after the victory, however, the Joseon navy was still outnumbered by the remaining Japanese navy, so Admiral Yi withdrew to the Yellow sea to resupply his fleet and have more space for mobile defense.

  Technical Notes: 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.

RESOURCES
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Battle of Myeongnyang", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.