Context: One of the people most often cited for bringing Admiral Yi-Sun Shin into more popular knowledge in the West was Tōgō Heihachirō, an admiral often credited for Japan’s victory during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904.
During an interview post-war, a reporter asked him a series of questions where Tōgō gave some delightfully blunt responses, namely when the reporter brought comparisons to Admiral Nelson and Admiral Yi:
*”Admiral, would you compare yourself with England’s Admiral Nelson, who destroyed Napoleon’s fleet?”*
>***”Am I so worthless as to be compared to Admiral Nelson? I destroyed the Russian Baltic fleet, the strongest navy in the world, with only one-third the number of ships in Nelson’s fleet.”***
“*Pardon my error. You are an even greater naval general than Admiral Yi Sun-shin of Korea.”*
>*”****It may be proper to compare me with Nelson, but not with Korea’s Yi Sun-shin, for he has no equal. Nelson and I both fought battles with full support from the government, but General Yi Sun-shin achieved victory without any government support. Compared to General Yi, I am but a petty officer.****”*
Admiral Yi, for the record, never lost a single naval battle, innovated naval warfare by making it less land-battles on a boat and more about the range of cannons, never lost a single ship in battle – often in spite of being vastly outnumbered against Japanese forces during the Imjim War – and did so despite his own government being at odds with him thoughout the entire war, to the point where he was nearly put to death by them.
He did all of this and more, and he had never commanded a ship nor fleet before the war.
Shower_Floaties on
The Admiral: Roaring Currents was a fun watch
hippo0803 on
I would kill to have a Total War: Imjin
Wahruz on
True bro, YSS was a chad and should be respected by every men especially those in the service. The kind of stories he created was great.
5 Comments
Context: One of the people most often cited for bringing Admiral Yi-Sun Shin into more popular knowledge in the West was Tōgō Heihachirō, an admiral often credited for Japan’s victory during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904.
During an interview post-war, a reporter asked him a series of questions where Tōgō gave some delightfully blunt responses, namely when the reporter brought comparisons to Admiral Nelson and Admiral Yi:
*”Admiral, would you compare yourself with England’s Admiral Nelson, who destroyed Napoleon’s fleet?”*
>***”Am I so worthless as to be compared to Admiral Nelson? I destroyed the Russian Baltic fleet, the strongest navy in the world, with only one-third the number of ships in Nelson’s fleet.”***
“*Pardon my error. You are an even greater naval general than Admiral Yi Sun-shin of Korea.”*
>*”****It may be proper to compare me with Nelson, but not with Korea’s Yi Sun-shin, for he has no equal. Nelson and I both fought battles with full support from the government, but General Yi Sun-shin achieved victory without any government support. Compared to General Yi, I am but a petty officer.****”*
Admiral Yi, for the record, never lost a single naval battle, innovated naval warfare by making it less land-battles on a boat and more about the range of cannons, never lost a single ship in battle – often in spite of being vastly outnumbered against Japanese forces during the Imjim War – and did so despite his own government being at odds with him thoughout the entire war, to the point where he was nearly put to death by them.
He did all of this and more, and he had never commanded a ship nor fleet before the war.
The Admiral: Roaring Currents was a fun watch
I would kill to have a Total War: Imjin
True bro, YSS was a chad and should be respected by every men especially those in the service. The kind of stories he created was great.
Didn’t Nelson give props to yi