Section 3: Setup
- Seat the players opposite one another and position the game boards so neither fleet grid can be seen by the opponent.
- Give each player one complete fleet: a Carrier, Battleship, Cruiser, Submarine, and Destroyer.
- Each player secretly places all five ships on the fleet grid.
- Choose a starting player by mutual agreement or a fair random method.
- Confirm that both targeting grids are empty before the first shot.
Ship Placement
- Every ship must lie in a straight horizontal or vertical line.
- Diagonal placement is not allowed.
- Every occupied part of a ship must remain within the A–J and 1–10 boundaries.
- Ships may not overlap or share a grid space.
- Ships may touch side to side or end to end in the standard recreational game, unless the players adopt a no-touching house rule.
- Players may place ships along the outer edges or in corners.
For example, a length-four Battleship may occupy B3, C3, D3, and E3 horizontally, or H5, H6, H7, and H8 vertically. It may not bend, run diagonally, extend beyond the grid, or pass through another ship.
Final Placement Check
Before the first shot, each player should count 17 occupied spaces and confirm that all five ship lengths are correct. Once the first coordinate has been called, no ship may be moved, rotated, exchanged, removed, or added.
If an illegal placement is discovered during play, pause the game. If it can be corrected without revealing useful information, reposition the affected ship legally and continue. If a fair correction is impossible, restart the game with new placements.