④ Why Admiral Yi Is History's Greatest Naval Commander

In the previous post, we saw how the outcomes of the world's three great naval battles were significant enough to change the direction of history. Now I want to explain why I believe Admiral Yi Sun-sin was history's greatest naval commander.

The Peak of Tactics and Leadership — Why Admiral Yi Stands Above the Rest

It's true that the world's three great naval battles are widely known, both for their sheer scale and through a Western-centered view of history. But if we judge naval history purely by a single commander's tactical brilliance and extraordinary leadership, Admiral Yi Sun-sin of Joseon deserves to be ranked, without question, as the finest in the world. Even set against the heroes of those three great battles, his greatness stands apart.

1. An Unmatched Record — The Legend of "23 Battles, 23 Victories"

Themistocles at Salamis, Drake at Calais, Nelson at Trafalgar — all great admirals, but none of them carried a perfectly unbroken record across their entire military careers. Admiral Yi, by contrast, recorded twenty-three victories in twenty-three official battles, from Okpo to Noryang — a 100 percent win rate with no parallel anywhere in world history. In a battlefield where a single defeat or a single mistake could not be afforded, the fact that he closed out his entire life without ever losing, on its own, proves he was operating on an entirely different level of strategy.

2. Overcoming the Worst Possible Conditions — A Miracle Built Without State Support

Whatever numerical disadvantages the commanders of the three great battles faced, they had the full backing of their states, and a secure base behind them. Britain's Nelson and Howard fought with some of the finest fleets of their era, fully supplied by their nation.

Admiral Yi was different. Far from receiving the court's full support, he was slandered, resented, and forced onto the road as a disgraced soldier; and when Won Gyun's defeat wiped out the Joseon navy, he had to face 133 Japanese ships with just thirteen of his own, at Myeongnyang. Short on weapons, food, and men, he cultivated his own farmland and made salt to raise funds, building up his forces almost entirely by his own hand to win his victories. A victory that bloomed out of the deepest isolation and deprivation is all the more remarkable for it.

3. Original Tactics Ahead of His Time, and the Turtle Ship

Admiral Yi's tactics were an innovation that changed the paradigm of world naval warfare. The crane-wing formation he unveiled at the Battle of Hansan Island was the first known application, at sea, of an encirclement tactic originally used on land — a maneuver impossible without flawless timing and coordinated maneuvering under cannon fire.

He also deployed the turtle ship, arguably the world's first armored assault vessel, in actual combat, completely blocking the enemy's boarding tactics and overwhelming them with cannon-centered warfare — a form of naval combat far ahead of anything the West had at the time.

A Leader Close to a Saint — the "Sacred Hero," Yi Sun-sin

The commanders who led the world's three great naval battles to victory were all capable men. But Admiral Yi was, at once, a tactician and strategist, an engineer who improved his own weapons, an administrator who solved his own logistics, and a leader who completely won the hearts of his men and his people — a leader close to a saint.

Admiral Yi being taken under arrest to the Uigeumbu

But above all else, what has held people's hearts to this day is his love for his people. In this, I sometimes catch a glimpse of Jesus in Admiral Yi's own image. Through brutal persecution and loneliness, he lifted up the people around him, sacrificing himself again and again. Just as he lifted others up to win the Battle of Myeongnyang, a battle everyone feared, he has gone on lifting up countless people — myself included — down to this day. It is much like how, in prayer during hard times, Jesus or the Buddha gives us new strength.

So whenever I think of Admiral Yi, I find myself acknowledging: he truly is the "Sacred Hero, Yi Sun-sin."

I don't say this to compare Admiral Yi to Jesus or the Buddha. I only mean to say that whether or not the Battle of Hansan Island makes it onto a list of the world's three or four great naval battles is beside the point — whatever anyone says, Admiral Yi Sun-sin was the greatest naval commander in history.

👉 Next post: ⑤ Admiral Yi and Chen Lin — Part 1

— Momcheolhak