BoardGameArchiveBattleship
Hide a fleet on your ocean grid, call coordinates to search the enemy grid, and sink all five opposing ships before your own fleet is destroyed.
Hide a fleet on your ocean grid, call coordinates to search the enemy grid, and sink all five opposing ships before your own fleet is destroyed.
Battleship is a two-player hidden-information search game. Each coordinate called gives new information, turning the target grid into a map of confirmed hits, misses and likely ship positions.
Why it matters
Searchers repeatedly need exact ship lengths, legal placement, hit-and-sink procedure and the optional Salvo variant. Those questions now have dedicated pages.
Game at a Glance
Five Ships
Carrier, Battleship, Destroyer, Submarine and Patrol Boat.
Coordinate Grid
Call one letter-number location at a time in the standard game.
Mark Information
Track every hit and miss so you never waste a shot.
Advanced Variant
Fire one shot for each ship you still have afloat.
Rules overview
Each player secretly places five ships on an ocean grid. Take turns calling coordinates. The defender announces a hit or miss and marks hits on the ship; the attacker records the result on the target grid. When every hole of a ship has been hit, it is sunk. Sink all five enemy ships to win.
Key decisions
Efficient search patterns matter before the first hit; after a hit, the problem changes into determining orientation and finishing the ship with the fewest wasted shots.
Learn Battleship in depth
Focused Battleship rules
Related games
Publisher sources & scope
Facts checked September 27, 2026. Rules coverage follows Hasbro Classic product F4527 and its included Salvo variant.