Hideoyoshi invades Korea with European style Galleons

[Zor]

In this scenario sometime around 1580 a Spanish Galleon arrives Southwestern Honshu badly damaged in a storm, if ultimately salvageable. As such the captain commissions local artisans to help him rebuild the ship with the assistance of local artisans who, on the order of their Daimyo go out of their way to take extensive notes on everything while they work. They also make some equipment to replace that which is lost, including some bronze cannons to replace those that had rolled overboard. After a year's work they finish the job, the Spaniards sail home and the Daimyo begins work on his own Galleons with Nobunaga's Blessing. By the time Hideoyoshi has consolidated his power the first Japanese built galleon is complete and so for his upcoming invasion he places some orders. By 1592 Hideoyoshi has a fleet of twelve twenty four gun galleons to serve as flagships and transports for his fleet with more under construction.

What happens?

Zor

 

[mlp]

My opinion is that it still wouldn't help much, since the main place these ships should be around is the western and southern coast of Korea - very island-heavy, strong currents; the Japanese ships OTL did have guns on them and they weren't much use against Yi Sun-shin.

 

[inawarminister]

Twelve galleons?

That should be enough to keep the supply lines open, no?

Isn't eastern Korean coast open to the Atlantic?

 

[Timaeus]

Going south to take the Philippines would be easier, being a colony barely two generations old and the ass-end of the Spanish empire. As much as I hate to admit it, and as much as it's already a cliche.

Still, they'd have to deal with hostile natives (who are admittedly thin on the ground), their exiled Christian countrymen, a half-hearted attempt to take it back at the very least, and malaria. And in exchange, they'd get a malaria and hostile-native-infested colony in the south. This, where they never bothered to completely colonize Hokkaido.

 

[Intransigent Southerner]

Going south to take the Philippines would be easier

OTOH it would be quite a bit less productive than Korea (and of course China, as Hideyoshi dreamed).

Isn't eastern Korean coast open to the Atlantic?

I think you mean the Pacific, and not really (the Sea of Japan, not the Pacific). Also the east is mountainous and relatively unimportant during the war compared to the west, where most of the plains are. But in any case, while European ships did have an advantage in the open sea, Chinese ships repeatedly won brown-water engagements against Europeans in the 17th century (and they probably would have won in most of the 18th century, but we can't tell because there never really was a war between Europeans and Chinese in the 18th century). I don't really see just twelve ships being enough to tilt the war in the favor of the Japanese.

 

[wietze]

Twelve galleons?

That should be enough to keep the supply lines open, no?

Isn't eastern Korean coast open to the Atlantic?

korea got moved west a lot? i take it you mean the sea of japan

edit: those ninjas

 

[WhatIsAUserName]

I'm not sure that the Hideyoshi's issues were just the ships. It wasn't just that the Japanese ships were smaller and less sturdy (which they were), it's also that Korea had more powerful and longer-ranged cannons as well. During the Imjin War, the dominant Japanese tactic was focused on boarding and grappling, with cannons being secondary. Unless Japan changes its naval strategy, twelve sturdier ships won't make a difference.

In the even longer run, the galleons would not change the overall outcome because the two main reasons for Japan's defeat, the Chinese intervention and local guillera warfare, will still be present. However, the war as a whole might be longer and deadlier if Japan was victorious at sea comparable to its victories on land.