The Joseon Royal Navy
In general, the shipbuilders of the Joseon kingdom emphasized heavily on sturdiness and solidity rather than speed. This was done due to the nature of Korean naval tactics as well as the nature of the rough waters surrounding the Korean peninsula. Unlike the Japanese (as well as the rest of the world including Europe at this time), the Koreans favored ship-to-ship bombardments rather than grappling and boarding enemy vessels where naval battles virtually became floating land battles. The superiority of Korean shipbuilding was apparent as far back as the Goryeo period. At the time of Kublai Khan's failed invasion of Japan, of the Mongol-Goryeo Allied fleet that was ravaged by the typhoon, it was mostly the Korean-built ships that rode out the storm and suffered fewer losses. By the time of the Imjinwaeran, although the Joseon army had mediocre firearms, the ships of the Joseon kingdom were armed with some of the most advanced naval weapons of the time including gunpowder-propelled ballista bolts, Chinese naval cannons, swivel-mount cannons, grenades, and rockets. Korean ships also utilized bamboo pegs rather than iron nails to hold hulls together, thus they did not have the problems of rusting and weakened structural integrity.
Geobukseon ("Turtle Ship"): Tradition credits Admiral Yi Sun-sin with the invention of the ironclad Geobukseon, but iron-armored cannon-bearing warships were technically not a new concept and the first Geobukseon were actually developed earlier in the Joseon Dynasty in the early 1400s, almost two centuries before the Imjinwaeran. Whether the Geobukseon is indeed the earliest "ironclad" in the world is still up for debate as the Chinese and Japanese ships are also prime candidates. However, Admiral Yi Sun-sin's redesign of the Geobukseon was an undeniably brilliant application of the available naval technology, making it the most advanced warship ever concieved in his time. The Geobukseon evloved from the Panokseon, the main battleship of the Joseon fleet, and the "Kwason" spear ships, which served as ramming vessels. Early Geobukseon ships served a smilar purpose to the Kwason, but had a wooden covered hull, making them difficult to board. During the Imjinwaeran, Admiral Yi Sun-sin redesigned the Geobukseon warship, combining Chinese naval weapons technology with the Korean mastery of shipbuilding, adding Chinese naval cannons as well as an iron "shell" that gave it a strong protective armor against Japanese arquebuses. Geobukseon were thus capable of not only ramming enemy ships, but also bombarding them from a distance. Despite popular belief, there were only a few Geobukseon in Admiral Yi Sun-sin's fleet. The Geobukseon nowhere near as common a warship as the Panokseon. Regardless, the immense power and capabilities of the Geobukseon enabled them to be a crucial factor in the naval battles of the Imjinwaeran.
Panokseon: Panokseon-class warships were the standard naval warships of the Joseon navy. They had an open upper deck with a protected lower deck to separate the oarsmen from the fighting above so that the ship could still be mobile even when boarded. The upper decks also featured a small "castle" or tower that served as a command post. Panokseon ships were sturdy, though somewhat sluggish due to their bulky design. Despite their bulkiness, their main strength was their sheer firepower. Though vulnerable to grappling and boarding with its open upper deck, the panokseon-class warship featured an impressive arsenal of artillery that made it suitable for bombarding other ships from a distance.
The Navy of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Though the Japanese land forces frequently inflicted heavy losses on the Joseon royal army, the Japanese navy faced great difficulty when confronting superior Korean warships. Japanese warships were held together by iron nails, which rusted over time and thus weakened hulls. Although the Japanese had the advantage of Portuguese firearms and cannons, Japanese warships could not carry many large cannons. Instead, boarding tactics and the shooting of hand-held projectile weapons such as arquebuses and bows were favored, which was a common naval tactic.
Atakabune: Some ships of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion force were left over from the Sengoku Jidai. Although most of the battles were fought on land between quarreling daimyo, some daimyos (notably Oda Nobunaga) built thier own fleets and occasionally engaged in naval warfare with rivals. The atakabune-class ship was a main combat ship of Japanese fleets. They feature an open deck and are shaped like a floating box, similar to the Korean panokseon-class warship, but are not as sturdily built. Since atakabune hulls were held together by iron nails, which eventually rusted and weakened hull strength, they were not suitable for carrying many cannons. The Japanese primarily sought to grapple and board enemy ships in naval warfare, thus ships were not usually designed for ship-to-ship bombardment. Atakabune ships have holes along the broadsides for arquebusiers to shoot at enemy sailors while being relatively protected from arrow or gun fire.
O-Atakabune: "O-Atakabune" simply means "large atakabune." Ships of these class, dwarf the atakabune-class warship, but are of similar design. O-Atakabune ships were not common, but several were constructed during the time of the Sengoku Jidai. Historical records indicate that O-Atakabune ships had iron plating along the broadsides, thus making them a candidate for possibly being the world's oldest ironclad warship to some historians. However, Chinese warships of the early Ming period also were recorded as being armored and both Ming armored ships and the O-Atakabune did not have an iron "shell" that the Korean Geobukseon featured. It is noted in Japanese historical records that Tokugawa Ieyasu was required to send iron to equip Japanese warships with armor in response to the Korean warships, which perhaps referred to the ironclad Geobukseon. Iron-armored O-Atakabune warships were called "Tekkousen." Though powerful ships, the Tekkousen / O-Atakabune warships had one serious design flaw - they were very unstable and easily capsized when weight shifted.
Sekibune: Sekibune are medium-sized warships that are relatively simple in design and purpose. They are somewhat box-shaped like Atakabune and Panokseon warships and are mostly oar-powered. Their primary purpose is to serve as a troop transport ship and because of their manueverability, they are used to approach the broadsides of other naval vessels for boarding tactics.
Kobaya: Kobaya are small but relatively fast watercrafts whose primary purpose is to slip by the broadsides of enemy ships so that the crew can grapple and board. Since they exist as quick transports for boarding crews, Kobaya ships are not well armed.
The Nihon Maru: The Nihon Maru was the flagship of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion force. It is a virtual floating castle, a large and hulking vessel complete with ramparts and a "keep." Though unique in the fleet of the Japanese invasion force, the Nihon Maru was not a novel idea, as the "tower ship" (some translate it as the "castle ship") was used in Chinese fleets and was known as the "Lou Chuan." The Nihon Maru served as the primary command ship and was well-equipped and heavilly manned. However, its hulking size and shape made it lacking in manueverability.
The Imperial Navy of Ming-chao
Up until the late 18th Century, Chinese ships were some of the finest vessls in the world, featuring watertight bulkheads and a solid and sturdy design that enabled them extremely strong and seaworthy crafts that dominated the East Asian as well as Southeast Asian waters for centuries. Although the inward-turning government of Ming-chao scrapped the great imperial fleet of Admiral Zheng He, who lead a great armada of ships including the famed gargantuan "treasure ships," in the fifteenth century, the Ming fleet during the time of the Imjinwaeran was still fairly advanced in comparison to its contemporaries in the East and the West.
Fu-chuan: Commonly known as "junks" to Westerners, the Chinese "chuan" ships were relatively advanced in their heyday, serving as excellent merchant vessels and naval warships. "Fu-chuan" ships served the purpose of being purely military "junks" and were the primary fighting ships of the famed Admiral Zheng He's "Treasure Fleet" in the early 15th century. Fu-chuan ships were armed with naval cannons and were suitable for long-distance voyages as their well-designed structure enabled them to weather rough waters competently in comparison to most ships of the day. Some Chinese warships may have had iron armor along the broadsides.
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