Battleship - The Classic Naval Combat Game

You sank my Battleship! The enduring catchphrase heard on television advertising for decades.

Battleship, the classic naval combat game is a guessing game played by two people where the object is to sink all of your enemy’s ships.

Although popularized in the United States as a board game produced by Milton Bradley in 1931, it is know throughout the world as a pencil & paper game that predates the First World War.

Here is a link to a printable version of the pencil & paper game:



Historian John Toland wrote in “The Dillinger Days,” that prisoners in solitary confinement at the Indiana State Penitentiary played a version of Battleship during the 1920’s. The inmates would mark squares on their cell floors and call out attacks from cell to cell. “For years the more obtuse guards wondered what was being plotted when they heard men calling: B7, Miss, or Destroyer sunk.”

Today, Milton Bradley (owned by Hasbro), offers several editions of the game including a hand-held electronic, a travel pack, or an advanced electronic home game version.