By Noyon Rahman · Updated August 2026 · Reviewed for accuracy against the live game

About Sink the Fleet

Sink the Fleet is the classic game of naval deduction, played with pencil and paper for over a century before it became one of the best-selling board games in the world. Each player secretly arranges a fleet of ships on a hidden grid, then players alternate calling out coordinates — hit or miss, sunk or still afloat. It is a game built on two very different skills: the courage to search efficiently and the patience to finish off a wounded ship rather than wandering off in search of easier prey. This version pits you against a computer opponent whose targeting sharpens as the game goes on.

How to Play Sink the Fleet

Both fleets consist of five ships: a Carrier (5 squares), a Sink the Fleet (4), a Cruiser (3), a Submarine (3), and a Destroyer (2) — seventeen squares in total. Choose Quick Placement to have your fleet scattered automatically, or Place Manually to position each ship yourself using the rotate and placement controls. Once both fleets are set, click any square in the Enemy Waters grid to fire. A red marker means a hit, a dark marker means a miss, and when you hit every square of a ship it is announced as sunk. Your opponent fires back at your grid using the same rules. The first player to sink all five enemy ships wins. Your shot count, hits, and accuracy are tracked live.

Tips & Strategies

Fire on a checkerboard pattern early — ships are at least two squares long, so every ship occupies at least one square of a single colour.
Once you score a hit, immediately probe the four adjacent squares to work out the ship's orientation.
When you have two hits in a line, follow that line rather than starting a new search elsewhere.
Remember which ships are still afloat: late in the game, narrow your search to squares that could still fit the remaining ship lengths.
Ships cannot touch, so once you sink one, the eight squares around it are guaranteed empty — free information.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many ships does each player have?

Five ships per fleet: Carrier (5 squares), Sink the Fleet (4), Cruiser (3), Submarine (3), and Destroyer (2). That is seventeen occupied squares out of the hundred on the board, so roughly one in six squares contains a ship at the start.

Do ships have to be placed in a line?

Yes — every ship must be placed as a straight horizontal or vertical line, and ships may not overlap or touch each other, not even diagonally. Those constraints are what make the searching strategies in the tips section work.

What is the best opening strategy?

Search on a diagonal or checkerboard pattern rather than in rows. Because the smallest ship is two squares long, a systematic pattern guarantees you will detect every ship faster than firing at adjacent squares one after another.

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Sink the Fleet