A Turtle Ship
The Turtle Ship is a unique Korean naval unit that is featured in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors expansion.
Game Info
The Turtle Ship is a Korean slow heavily armoured battleship that is most effective for destroying enemy warships at a close range. The Turtle Ship is available to build at a Dock after the player has built at least one Castle. The Turtle Ship is one of the two unique units of the Korean civilization.
Tactics
The Turtle Ship is one of the major Korean advantages. A single Turtle Ship can wipe out a small fleet of enemy vessels. If your opponent has a Turtle Ship, the wisest idea is to build Heavy Demolition Ships and use them to attack the Turtle Ships. A group of five Turtle Ships can take out a good portion of an enemies navy, and then be used as very devastating cover during the first stage of a land attack. The Turtle Ships weakness is its short range and slow speed, allowing other ships to hit it and run.
The turtle ship is also weak to onagers and mangonels and shouldn't attack a group of them.
Real Info
The Turtle Ship was designed by Admiral Yi Sun-Shin during the invasion of Korea by the Japanese in the late 1500s. With the help of the Turtle Ships Admiral Yi Sun-Shin won two major battles and several smaller battles off the southern coasts of Korea, destroying many Japanese ships. The Turtle Ship became one of the world's first armored battleships. In actuality, the Turtle Ship was more maneuverable and was capable of great bursts of speed, but had a slower cruising speed than contemporary ships thanks to its flat bottom (Japanese and Chinese ships of the time had v-shaped hulls, giving them higher cruising speeds). It was also heavily armed and capable of ramming and sinking multiple ships.
The Turtle Ship had a rounded top with that resembled a turtle shell that was studded with spikes; this prevented enemy soldiers boarding the battleship. The ship was powered both by sails and oars, which is what made it able to accelerate and turn so quickly. The Turtle Ship had mounted a battery of Cannons on each side which could be used well to tear down enemy ships.