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Sea Battle Strategy and Tips

Here is how to think about winning at Sea Battle, split into short lessons. Each one reads on its own, and each one comes with a real position: press Try it on the board and you play the move yourself.

Hunt in a checkerboard pattern

Lesson 1

Firing at random before you know where anything is wastes shots. Colour the board like a checkerboard, and a ship of two squares or more — placed anywhere, in any direction — always covers at least one square of each colour. Since the smallest ship in the standard fleet is the two-square destroyer, firing only at squares of one colour is enough to eventually hit something, after checking just half the board.

Here you've already fired at a few squares of one colour and missed each time. Try another square of the same colour.

Once you score a hit, switch to aiming at the squares next to it instead. The checkerboard pattern is only your opening method, for when you know nothing yet.

Once you know the direction, follow the line

Lesson 2

A single hit doesn't tell you which way a ship runs. But once a second hit lands right next to the first, the direction is settled — from there, keep firing along that same line.

Here you've already hit two squares in a row, side by side. The ship runs horizontally, so there's no need to try the squares above or below either hit.

The glowing square continues that same line. Keep firing along it and you'll sink the ship. Firing at a right angle once the direction is known just wastes a shot.

Skip gaps too small for what's left

Lesson 3

No ship can fit into a gap shorter than the longest one still afloat. If small one- or two-square gaps are scattered around the board, you can safely ignore them.

Here you've sunk the battleship, cruiser, submarine and destroyer, leaving only the five-square carrier. The scattered gaps left elsewhere are only one square wide — nowhere near enough for it.

The bottom row still has a wide stretch you haven't fired at, with room for all five squares — the only place the carrier could be hiding. Rather than filling in every small gap one at a time, narrow it down by the length of whatever's still afloat.

Under no-touching, skip the ring around a sunk ship

Lesson 4

Under the no-touching rule, ships never sit next to each other, not even diagonally. So the moment you sink a ship, every square around it — diagonals included — is guaranteed to be empty.

Here you've just sunk the carrier. It's tempting to fire at a square touching it, like the one right below — but under this rule, every one of those squares is certain to miss.

Fire at a square further away instead. The glowing square hides the battleship. Rather than dutifully checking every square around a sunk ship, spend that shot somewhere it can actually pay off.

Try it on the board

Pick a lesson and the board starts from that position. Start over as often as you like.

Now put it to work

Play with friendsLearn how to play (3 min)

Last updated 2026-09-19 · Run by Qdan, Inc.