Nations

When a new player creates an account, he or she receives a set of starting Sailors. They are supplemented with fifty thousand credits and thirty two thousand points to spend on purchasing a neutral ship and more crew. Players may also buy or sell naval guns, torpedo launchers, and other equipment using credits, or trade with other players for ships and crewmen.

Beginners are advised to battle in the "Beginner" area to level their Sailors up. Once a Sailor has reached level 12, he may be assigned to one of four nations:

United States
USN - United States Navy - USA. The USN is presented as a balanced all-around choice, with good fighter pilots, good aircraft carriers, and powerful light cruisers. United States heavy cruisers are considered to lack range compared to those of other nations, and its early-to-mid game battleships, the Nevada class, Alaska class, and New Mexico class, are generally considered to be inferior to their counterparts in other navies due to their lack of range. However, its later battleships, the Iowa and Montana classes, are very competitive, and have among the heaviest broadsides in the game. Post Open NavyField patching, US BB2s such as Colorado, and Tennessee 1945, are generally considered the best BB2s. These buffed ships have decent range, excellent firepower, and a higher speed. USN large-caliber naval guns also have a high maximum angle (yet not as high as IJN variants), giving USN shells a similar hangtime advantage.

United Kingdom
UK/RN - Royal Navy - British Empire. The UK has the most effective armor, the best support crews, a large variety of fast battleships, as well as the hardest hitting guns. However, UK guns lack a fast reload speed (due to the system used to class their gunners) and UK torpedoes are the slowest and have the shortest range (albeit high damage). Players gain access to battleships and heavy cruisers at lower levels than the other navies. UK aircraft are also the most durable in the game.

German
KM - Kriegsmarine - German Reich. Naval guns of the KM typically have the greatest range of all the four navies, yet do the least amount of damage for their size. In addition to having the least shell damage of their calibers, most KM ships have relatively few barrels, giving German ships the lightest broadside of all similarly tiered ships. German ships boast some of the best speeds in the game. Some KM ships lack the displacement required to hold large amounts of armor, yet others can stop 16-inch HE shells. Typically, the Kriegsmarine's gunships have excellent anti-aircraft weaponry and its carriers have powerful fighter aircraft. Most of the (relatively few, compared with the other nations) ships available for Kriegsmarine are Z Plan projects, and the H class which were never built or commissioned. KM also has the best fighters in the game.

Japan
IJN - Imperial Japanese Navy - Empire of Japan. The Imperial Japanese Navy is the only nation that can use "Long Lance" oxygen-fueled torpedoes and it has some of the fastest ships in the game, as well as a large assortment of aircraft carriers and a line of ships designed specifically to use torpedoes as their primary weapons. The earlier Japanese Battleships are usually considered hard to use, as they lack both speed and range, hence, the Imperial Japanese Navy is largely considered a CV and torpedo nation. However, the IJN does have access to the Yamato class battleships, and later, the Super Yamato class battleships, mounting powerful, long ranged main batteries and the longest range of any anti-aircraft weaponry. IJN large-caliber naval guns are known for having a very high maximum angle, giving them the advantage of incredible ability to pierce armored ships, and they "gain" range when on the run due to the shells' long hangtime. However, the long shell hangtime also make them difficult to use. IJN aircraft are extremely fast, outrunning their counterparts of other nations.