Description

Two opposing fleets of 5 ships each, one fleet being blue and the other red vie to see which fleet can capture all the ships of the other.
A die roll determines which fleet begins in Cadiz and which fleet begins in the Tortugas.
Players use a spinner to determine how far to move. That movement can be in any direction over GOLD roads or over the roads of his/her color. The winner is the player having any ships left, after all of the ships of the enemy have been captured.
Gold roads can be used by any player. Red cannot use Blue roads and vice versa. Any ship that arrives at the enemy headquarters captures all of the ships there. If there are no ships there the player gets back one of his own ships or the first ship subsequently captured afterwards. That ship begins again in his home area. To capture a ship it must be landed on by exact count. There are mines that might be landed on. These destroy ships which are permanently removed from the game

From NY Historical Museum:
"The Game of Naval War" paper covered cardboard box top with a chromolithographed image of a naval battle with a gun deck in the foreground with crew members dying and ships in the background sinking and burning and two American ships coming to the rescue; cover inscribed, "THE/ GAME/ OF/ NAVAL WAR/ COPYRIGHT 1898/ McLOUGHLIN BROS/ NEW YORK/ COPYRIGHT 1898 BY F. D. MAHER."

Overall: 13 x 21 1/2 in. ( 33 x 54.6 cm )