Battleship vs Cruiser.

I never get this, my ships just don't return fire if they are caught unawares.

...wow my ships have a problem attacking another ship that has greater range and is firing on my ships, it's so stupid.

Perhaps your cruiser can't move because of the fighting but is confused (game) about your order you should order your cruiser to attack and see if that helps this has happened to me too with tanks though... that worked but they lose Moral so its up to you die or die fighting...

I think that might be the reason, as soon as it comes under fire it starts to falter.

Cruisers have lower range than battleships, it's no suprise in a one on one fight the cruiser will lose because their guns is out of range

The problem is that the cruiser does not move closer to engage the BB but it has no problem fleeing.

Perhaps try a movement order toward the battleship to put it within range instead of an attack order...see if that helps.

I've tried everything, I tried asking it to move closer, I've tried asking it to attack. I have sunk the battleship with a massed submarine attack so I'm not very concerned about the range problem just yet.