Play Sea Battle Online

Sea Battle is a classic 2-player strategy game. Each player tries to position their fleet of ships smartly and sink the opponent's fleet.

This war game likely has its roots in the 19th century and is typically played with pen and paper. It is also known by names such as "Battleship" and "Fleet Battle".

Here you can play the game online with a friend. Create a room now and sink your opponent's fleet. Have fun!

Sea Battle Game Rules

Sea Battle can be divided into two phases: the setup phase and the battle phase.

To dive deeper into each phase, we first need an overview of the different ship types.

Types of Ships

Each player has 10 ships in total, which can be divided into different types based on their size.

The image below shows the different ship types:

You may know different names for these ships. Here, however, these are the names:

• Battleship: The largest ship, with a length of 5 boxes. Each player has only 1.
• Cruiser: 4 boxes long. Each player has 2.
• Destroyer: 3 boxes long. Each player has 3.
• Submarine: 2 boxes long. Each player has 4.

Setup Phase

During the setup phase, each player positions their 10 ships on their own 10x10 grid. In principle, ships can be placed anywhere on the grid, either vertically or horizontally.

However, the following restrictions also apply: ships may not be placed directly next to each other and may not be placed diagonally.

You can see an example arrangement of your own fleet here:

Battle Phase

As soon as both players have placed their ships, the battle phase can begin. In this phase, both players take turns. On a turn, a player selects a box they want to fire at. The following outcomes are possible:

1. Miss: The box is empty. The shot misses and the opponent takes the next turn.
2. Hit: The box contains a ship. The player may fire again.
3. Hit, sunk: The last box of the ship was hit. The ship is sunk, revealed, and the player keeps their turn.

Below you can see a grid with hits, sunk ships, and misses:

The black circles in the boxes mark misses and surrounding boxes of sunk ships. The latter is because ships may not be placed directly next to each other.

Sunk ships are revealed and marked at the boxes that were hit. Finally, regular hits are highlighted with red crosses.

In the end, the player who sinks all of the opponent's ships first wins. A draw is therefore not possible in Sea Battle.

A Tip for a Successful Game

Experience shows that many players often choose columns 1, 5, 6, and 10 for their shots. You should therefore make sure not to place your ships in these columns.

In addition, it is worth positioning ships vertically, because after a hit, players often choose the horizontally adjacent box next, which is related to the typical left-to-right reading direction.

It is also recommended to place ships close together in the mentioned columns, because players usually search the entire grid and do not focus on one specific area.

Questions and Answers