How to Play Battleship: Rules, Ships and Strategy
Updated
Battleship is a guessing game for two players. Each player secretly places a fleet of ships on a 10×10 grid, then the players take turns calling out squares to fire at, and the opponent answers hit or miss. The first player to sink every ship in the other fleet wins.
What you need
Each player uses two grids, usually 10×10, with columns marked by letters and rows by numbers, so every square has a name such as C7.
| Grid | What goes on it |
|---|---|
| Ocean grid | Your own ships, and the shots your opponent fires at them |
| Target grid | Your shots at the opponent, marked as hits or misses |
The game began as a pencil and paper game before it was ever sold as a board game, so two hand-drawn grids per player are all you need to play at a table.
The ships
The classic fleet has five ships that fill 17 squares in total. Two versions of the names are in use, according to Wikipedia's Battleship article.
| Size | Older board-game names | Names used since 2002 |
|---|---|---|
| 5 squares | Carrier | Carrier |
| 4 squares | Battleship | Battleship |
| 3 squares | Cruiser | Destroyer |
| 3 squares | Submarine | Submarine |
| 2 squares | Destroyer | Patrol Boat |
Video game versions often use other fleets and grid sizes, so check the rules of the one you play.
Setting up
- Place each ship on a straight line of squares, either across or down. Ships never go diagonally.
- Ships may not overlap and must stay inside the grid.
- Keep your grid hidden from your opponent for the whole game.
Rules differ on whether two ships may touch side by side. Agree on it before you start, or check the game's own instructions.
How to play Battleship, step by step
- Players take turns. On your turn, call one square on your opponent's grid, such as "C7".
- Your opponent answers "hit" if one of their ships covers that square, or "miss" if it does not. In the classic rules, they also say which ship was hit.
- Mark the result on your target grid. Your opponent marks the shot on their ocean grid.
- When every square of a ship has been hit, its owner announces that the ship is sunk.
- The first player to sink the whole enemy fleet wins.
In the classic rules, each player fires one shot per turn, hit or miss.
Battleship variants
| Variant | What changes |
|---|---|
| Salvo | You fire several shots per turn, one for each of your ships still afloat, so losing ships also costs you firepower |
| Fixed salvo | You fire the same number of shots every turn, for example five |
| Silent sinking | Players do not announce when a ship sinks, so you must keep firing to be sure an area is clear |
| Moving ships | Every few turns, a player may move one ship to a square that has not been called |
These variants are described in the Wikipedia article. The modern board-game rules list Salvo as an option for more experienced players.
Strategy: placing your ships
- Spread your ships out. A tight cluster means that once one is found, the shots around it soon find the others.
- Avoid neat patterns, such as every ship in a row along one edge. A human opponent notices habits.
- Change your layout from game to game.
- Remember how players search. A ship can lie across a square near the center in more ways than across a square at the edge: a 5-square carrier has 10 possible positions covering a central square, but only 2 covering a corner. Opponents who play the odds fire at the middle first, so the edges are a fair place to hide some ships, but not all of them.
Strategy: finding enemy ships
Hunt on a checkerboard
The smallest ship covers two squares, so every ship sits on at least one square of each color of a checkerboard pattern. Fire only at squares of one color, such as A1, A3, B2, B4, and you are certain to hit every ship within 50 shots. A random search may need many more.
Switch to targeting after a hit
When you score a hit, stop searching and fire at the four squares around it: above, below, left and right. When a second shot hits, you know the ship's direction. Keep firing along that line until you miss, then go back and try the other end.
Read the sinking
When a ship sinks, compare your hits in that area with the ship's length. If you have more hits than the sunk ship had squares, another ship lies alongside it, and you should keep firing there.
Widen the spacing as ships sink
Once the 2-square ship is gone, the smallest ship left is 3 squares long. You can then space your search shots every third square instead of every second, which covers the grid with fewer shots.
Common mistakes
- Firing at random. A pattern finds ships in fewer shots.
- Leaving a damaged ship to search elsewhere. Finish what you hit first.
- Forgetting to mark misses, then firing at the same square twice.
- Using the same layout every game against the same opponent.
Play Battleship in your browser
Battleships Armada has you deploy your fleet on a grid and guess where your rival's ships are hiding; each turn, both sides launch three missiles, and the first to sink the last enemy ship wins. TRZ Battleship plays the classic turn-by-turn version: once you hit every part of a ship, it becomes visible to you.
Maritime Conflict is a turn-based naval duel: click a square of the enemy grid to fire, or tap it on a phone or tablet. In Battleship War Multiplayer, you select a cell to launch a missile, collect points and spend them on special power-ups.
More turn-based games are in the strategy collection, and games to play against other people are in the multiplayer category and the 2-player category.
Battleship FAQ
How many ships are in Battleship?
Five in the classic game: one of 5 squares, one of 4, two of 3 and one of 2, for 17 squares in all.
Can ships touch in Battleship?
It depends on the rules you play by. Some players allow ships side by side, others require a gap, so agree before you start.
Do you get another turn after a hit?
Not in the classic rules: each player fires one shot per turn, hit or miss. Some house rules and video game versions work differently.
How do you play Battleship on paper?
Each player draws two 10×10 grids and labels the columns A to J and the rows 1 to 10. Draw your five ships on one grid, keep it hidden, and use the other to mark your shots.
Search on a checkerboard, finish every ship you hit, and keep your own fleet hard to guess.
