Battleship game against the computer

An online Battleship game against the computer with classic rules: a 10×10 grid, ten ships, and a hit earns another shot. Choose from three opponents — a cabin boy, a captain and an admiral; squares where no ship can be are marked automatically.

How to play

Choose an opponent

The cabin boy for a start, the captain on equal terms, the admiral for a real fight.

Set up your fleet

Your ships are already placed by the rules; before the first shot you can place them yourself with “Place ships”.

Fire at the enemy waters

Click a square: a dot is a miss, a cross is a hit. Hit a ship and you fire again.

Sink all ten ships

Whoever sinks the whole enemy fleet first wins.

Sink the cabin boy’s, captain’s or admiral’s fleet before they find yours

Opponent

Cabin boy fires almost at random Captain plays on equal terms Admiral calculates the odds

Your turn: fire at the enemy waters. Before the first shot you can place your ships yourself.

Enemy waters

Your fleet

Keyboard: Tab to a grid, arrow keys to move, Enter to fire.

Rules and controls

The grid is 10 by 10 squares: columns are lettered A to J and rows are numbered 1 to 10. A square is named by its letter and number: “B5”, “J10”.

Each player has ten ships: one battleship (four squares), two cruisers (three), three destroyers (two) and four submarines (one). Ships are straight and never touch each other, not even at the corners.

Players take turns. A miss passes the turn to your opponent; a hit or a sinking earns you another shot. Squares where no ship can be — around a sunk ship and diagonal to a hit — are marked automatically.

The first player to sink all ten enemy ships wins.

Playing without a screen

With a screen reader (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver, TalkBack): the enemy waters are a table of 100 squares, and each one announces its name and state — “B5, miss”. Arrow keys move around the grid and Enter fires; the result of your shot and your opponent’s moves are read out automatically.
On a phone with VoiceOver or TalkBack, drag a finger across the grid to hear the squares; double-tap to fire.
You can place your own ships from the keyboard too: “Place ships”, arrow keys over your grid, Enter places a ship and R rotates it.

Features

Three opponents with different tactics

The cabin boy fires almost at random, the captain hunts in a checkerboard pattern and finishes off damaged ships, and the admiral works out where the remaining ships most likely are before every shot.

Classic rules

A 10×10 grid with letters A to J and a fleet of ten ships: one battleship, two cruisers, three destroyers and four submarines; ships never touch.

Empty squares marked for you

Dots appear around a sunken ship and diagonally from every hit, so you never have to keep the “ships don’t touch” rule in your head.

Sound and animation

A splash for a miss, an explosion for a hit and bubbles as a ship goes down — you can hear every result without looking at the grid.

A grid built for screen readers

Every square announces its name and state, arrow keys move across the grid, Enter fires, and the opponent’s moves are read out.

Score for each opponent

Wins and losses are kept separately for every opponent, and an unfinished game picks up where you left off after a page reload.

FAQ

Can ships be placed right next to each other?

No. Under the classic rules there is always at least one empty square between ships, even diagonally. So once a ship is sunk, every square around it is certainly empty: the game puts dots there right away, and you never waste a shot on them.

Why are diagonal squares marked after a hit?

Ships are straight and may not touch at the corners. So no ship can sit diagonally from any hit: not the same one, because it does not bend, and not a neighbor, because it would touch at a corner. Look for the rest of a damaged ship only horizontally or vertically.

How do the cabin boy, the captain and the admiral differ?

The cabin boy fires almost at random and does not know yet that ships never touch, so he wastes shots on squares next to sunken ships. The captain searches every other square in a checkerboard pattern and always finishes off a damaged ship. Before every shot the admiral counts how many ways the remaining ships can pass through each square and fires at the most likely one. In our test on 1,000 fleet layouts, the cabin boy needed about 72 shots on average to sink a whole fleet, the captain about 57 and the admiral about 55.

Why does the admiral lose if he calculates the odds?

Battleship involves a lot of luck: no calculation can locate the four submarines, which are found only by trying the remaining squares. In our test the admiral was ahead of the captain by just over one shot on average, while games against the same opponent differed by almost twenty shots. So the stronger opponent wins more often, but not every time.

Can I place my ships myself?

Yes. Before the first shot press “Place ships”: tap a square on your grid to place the selected ship, tap a ship to select it and tap it again to rotate it; “Random” places the fleet for you. The game won’t let ships touch, not even at the corners. From the keyboard: arrow keys, Enter and R.

Can I play with a screen reader?

Yes. Every square is a separate element with its name and state (“B5, miss”), arrow keys move across the grid, Enter fires, and both your result and the opponent’s shots are announced. Sounds tell a miss, a hit and a sinking ship apart even without the announcements.

💡 Want us to improve this tool just for you?

We can! Just send us a quick message with your idea. If you'd like to discuss it in detail, leave your email and we'll get back to you. You can stay anonymous.

How do you rate this tool?

4 (1 rating)

Thank you for your rating!

Change my rating

Want to leave a comment?

Want to share more? Leave a comment!

Thank you! Your comment will appear after moderation.

Who is this tool for?

Published 01 Oct 2026 Updated 08 Oct 2026 Author: The Supreme