Understanding Hit, Miss, and Sunk

What each of the three outcomes tells you.

A miss is confirmed information that no ship occupies that cell. As misses accumulate, they reveal areas where a ship can't be, narrowing your search.

A hit means a ship occupies that cell, but you don't yet know which ship. Only once a string of hits covers every cell of a ship is it confirmed sunk.

A sinking signals that ship has been completely eliminated. Update the sizes of the remaining ships, and clean up the tracking around the sunk ship to simplify your next search.