This game from the Wing National Game Company of St. Augustine, FLA was indeed copyrighted in 1898.
[The box says this game was published by Parker Brothers.]
The game consists of a Battle Ground with 31 Navy Paths (31 circles) each of which are intersected at 5 or 6 places by other paths. These intersections are called fighting positions. Red, White and Blue designs across the battleground are called Line of Shot.
The game comes with 9 white and 9 black washers that represent Battleships from two Navies.
Each navy changes form (moves) in turn. Only one move is allowed at a time. The sinking of an opponents ship occurs when you manage to get two of your ships on the same line of shot as that of an enemy ship, with your nearest ship half way between the enemy and your back ship. When the range is so short that your two ships and the enemy lay in 3 consecutive positions then the enemy is captured and not sunk. When that happens you may remove the captured ship and place any of your ships in one of the starting positions. This allows you to fix placement errors by returning your ship to the start.