Place your fleet, fire at the enemy grid, and sink their ships before they sink yours.
Battleship is a classic two-player naval strategy game where each player hides a fleet of ships on a 10x10 grid and takes turns firing shots to locate and sink the opponent's fleet. This free online version lets you play against an AI opponent with three difficulty levels — from casual random firing to a probability-based targeting system that mirrors competitive play strategies.
Start by placing your 5 ships on the grid: Carrier (5 cells), Battleship (4 cells), Cruiser (3 cells), Submarine (3 cells), and Destroyer (2 cells). Use the rotate button or press R to switch between horizontal and vertical placement. Once your fleet is set, click "Start Battle" and take turns firing at the enemy grid. Red markers indicate hits and white circles indicate misses. Sink all 5 enemy ships before they sink yours to win.
Focus on the center of the board where ships are statistically more likely to be placed. Fire in a checkerboard pattern to efficiently search for ships, since the smallest ship is 2 cells long. Once you score a hit, fire at adjacent cells to determine the ship's orientation, then follow that line until the ship is sunk.
The standard game uses 5 ships: Carrier (5 cells), Battleship (4 cells), Cruiser (3 cells), Submarine (3 cells), and Destroyer (2 cells). That's 17 total cells your opponent needs to find on the 10x10 grid, and 17 cells you need to hit to win.
Place your 5 ships on the grid during the setup phase. Ships can be placed horizontally or vertically but cannot overlap or extend off the grid. Then take turns calling shots on the enemy grid. Each shot is either a hit or a miss. When all cells of a ship are hit, it sinks. The first player to sink all opponent ships wins.
If you enjoyed Battleship, try these: Chess · Checkers · Minesweeper
Last Updated March 2026