Admiral Yi Sun-sin Wins at Hansan Island

In August 1592, during the early months of the Japanese invasions of Korea, Korean naval commanders gathered their forces to challenge Japanese maritime movements along the southern coast of the peninsula. Admiral Yi Sun-sin combined his fleet with that of Yi Ok-ki at Yeosu before rendezvousing with Won Kyun at Noryang on August 12. Together, the commanders assembled a united force of more than fifty warships. While stationed at Dangpo, the Korean leadership learned that a Japanese naval contingent had sailed west from Busan and entered the strait of Gyeonnaeryang.

The opposing fleet, consisting of seventy-three vessels under the command of Wakizaka Yasuharu, had positioned itself inside the narrow channel. On the eighth day of the seventh lunar month, in mid-August 1592, Korean scouts encountered a Japanese vessel and initiated a pursuit. Upon observing the full concentration of Japanese warships anchored within the strait, Yi Sun-sin chose not to attack in the confined waters, where navigation was difficult and Japanese troops could easily reach the shore.