A hit and a sinking announcement answer different questions. A hit confirms an occupied square; a sinking message confirms that the particular ship no longer needs more shots.
Finish the target before restarting the hunt
Two adjacent hits suggest a ship's direction, but do not alone prove its length. If a longer ship remains possible, inspect untested squares beyond the ends. Once the game explicitly confirms that ship is sunk, stop extending that line and search for the remaining fleet. Do not mark surrounding squares empty unless the version explicitly forbids ships from touching.
Try the steps
- Distinguish the game's hit marker from its sunk message.
- While a target is unfinished, test legal untried endpoints.
- After confirmation, update the remaining ship lengths and resume searching.
Can adjacent hits belong to different ships?
In variants allowing ships to touch, yes. Treat direction as a hypothesis until the game's feedback resolves it. Use the rules of your current mode, not an assumed universal spacing rule.