What is Russian fleet?
The Russian fleet replaces the five ships of the classic game with ten smaller ones: one ship of four cells, two of three cells, three of two cells and four boats of a single cell. That is 20 cells in all, against 17 in the classic fleet, spread over twice as many ships.
Ships are placed in straight lines, across or down, and no two ships may touch, not even at a corner, so at least one empty cell lies between them. The rest of the game is unchanged: players take turns firing, a shot is answered with a miss, a hit or a sinking, and the first to sink the whole enemy fleet wins.
The many small boats change the hunt. A single-cell boat sinks with its first hit, so there is nothing to follow up, and once every bigger ship is gone the last boats can hide anywhere on the open water. Because ships never touch, every cell around a sunk ship is known to be empty, which helps narrow the search.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Naval Battle | Russian fleet |
|---|---|---|
| Fleet | Standard Naval BattleFive ships: one of five cells, one of four, two of three and one of two. | Russian fleetTen ships: one of four cells, two of three, three of two and four single-cell boats. |
| Cells to sink | Standard Naval Battle17 cells. | Russian fleet20 cells. |
| Touching ships | Standard Naval BattleNot allowed, not even at a corner. | Russian fleetThe same: at least one empty cell between any two ships. |
| Salvo shots | Standard Naval BattleFive shots at the start with the classic fleet. | Russian fleetTen shots at the start, one for each ship still afloat. |
| Other options | Standard Naval BattleA 10×10 grid, one shot per turn and no mines. | Russian fleetThe Russian fleet fits every grid size and can be played with Salvo, shoot again on a hit and mines. |
History
In Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union the game is known as Morskoy boy, "sea battle", and is usually drawn on squared school notebook paper. Its common rules use a 10×10 field with one four-cell ship, two three-cell ships, three two-cell ships and four single-cell ships, and ships may not touch each other by a side or a corner; some players allow ships to touch at the corners.
The game is old in Russia: it is said to have been played by Russian officers before the First World War, and the poet Ryurik Ivnev mentions it in his diary in 1907. It also appears in Russian culture, for example in Boris Zakhoder's poem of the same name, his first published poem, from 1947.