The Korea-Japan War (1592-1598), a Battle of Ironclads by 2 Industrial Empires

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Did you know that even during the 1500s, the Korean and Japanese navies already used ironclad battleships? The naval battles of the Korea-Japan War were one the first naval battles to be fought with sail-powered, but iron-plated, armored battleships. It was warfare on an industrial scale, the Korean Navy used the Geobukseon Class ironclads while the invading Japanese Imperial Navy used the Atakebune and Tekkousen Class ironclads. The battleships of the Koreans and Japanese were all armed with broadside cannons firing explosive shells that used a wick which ignited when the propellant charge was detonated and the shell then exploded when the fire from the wick reached the gunpowder inside it. The cannons also fired grapeshot which is comprised of several musket balls loaded into the cannon and fired into the deck of the enemy ship to kill the crew on board. The Korean and Japanese marines onboard the ship also carried matchlock muskets: the Koreans called their guns Chongtong, while the Japanese called their guns Tanegashima, and they also carried heavy arquebus class matchlocks that needed 2 men to handle the recoil generated when the gun is fired. To kill many enemy personnel when boarding an enemy ship, the Korean and Japanese marines also carried wick-ignited hand grenades and incendiary bombs in the form of oil filled fire jars for setting the enemy on fire. They also used smoke bombs to obscure enemy vision during a retreat from the enemy ship.

The Koreans and Japanese were evenly matched on a technological level since both of them possessed the industrial infrastructure and manufacturing capacity to make large numbers of guns, cannons, ammunition, explosives, and ironclad battleships. The 2 countries possessed animal mill, watermill, and windmill factories that were used to make mass produced interchangeable parts for weapons and battleships, along with coal-fired blast furnaces and oil refineries to refine oil for use in soap, oil lamps, candles, lubricants, cleaning oils, and incendiary bombs. The war ended with the defeat of the Japanese because the Koreans recruited military aid from the Chinese Empire, the country in which engineer Gao Xuan invented the animal driven paddle wheel in 1132 and engineer Qin Shifu invented the sail and animal-driven paddle wheel powered ironclad battleship in 1203 and the country that was also armed with other types of weapons like rockets carrying wick-ignited explosive warheads, while the 1st battleships that were armed with howitzers were introduced by Zheng He in 1405. However, the aid provided by the Chinese would come at a price: in 1637, Emperor Hong Taiji sent a force of 120,000 soldiers to occupy Korea and force it to become a tributary state, that is, a state that pays tribute in the form of money and goods without receiving anything in return. In the case of the Taiwanese colonization, Taiwan was originally called Formosa when it had a Dutch naval base, but in the 1630s Emperor Hong Taiji sent an expeditionary fleet led by Admiral Koxinga to attack the Dutch naval base. The Chinese Navy, with its superior number of battleships, won the naval battle against the Dutch Navy, and Formosa was ceded to China as part of the terms of surrender, after which, Emperor Hong Taiji renames Formosa into Taiwan. The Emperor also sends Admiral Limahong's fleet, a total of 600 battleships, into the Philippine Archipelago to occupy Pangasinan. After defeating the Spanish Navy in a battle, Admiral Limahong successfully occupies Pangasinan and it becomes a colony of the Chinese Empire.

There is a movie about this war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ad...aring_Currents

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Below is a woodblock print of an Atakebune Class Ironclad during the Korea-Japan War:

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Below is a photo of a replica of a Geobukseon Class Ironclad during the Korea-Japan War:

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And now, in 2022, the prequel to The Admiral: Roaring Currents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansan%3A_Rising_Dragon