The game is played by two players, each of whom takes turns to move. Each of the two players takes over a fleet. A fleet consists of six ships: two ships of the line, recognizable by three ship towers, two large cruisers, recognizable by two ship towers and two small cruisers, recognizable by one ship tower. The winner is the player who destroyed the enemy fleet except for one ship and rescued at least two ships from his own fleet.
After each hit a ship loses a tower and if a ship without tower is hit, ist's eliminated from the game. The sturdier ships are also the slowest. There is also land based artillery at the edges of the game board. A ship is hit, when it gets into the crossfire of two enemy shops or artillery.
The game was patented in 1903 and produced till at least 1909. In 1908 twenty games were purchased by the German emperor for the German navy.
—user summary