Naval Battle in Convoy Zone Clarification

[nishav]

"If the combat is occurring in a convoy sea zone containing transports
owned by the defender, they may not be taken as casualties until no
more escorting sea or air units remain in the combat. "

If attacker has submarines remaining but convoy escorts are down to only fighters the submarines would seem to stop firing until the defending fighters are destroyed at which point submarines can roll attacks against any remaining convoy targets.

This is inconsistent with previous rules regarding submarine hits to transports if there are no other legal targets:
“and hits can be assigned to transports only if there are no other eligible units.”
Axis & Allies Europe 1940 2nd Edition

Please confirm if I’m reading the rules correctly and if any insight into why the change

[AndrewAAGamer]

@nishav said in Naval Battle in Convoy Zone Clarification:

If attacker has submarines remaining but convoy escorts are down to only fighters the submarines would seem to stop firing until the defending fighters are destroyed at which point submarines can roll attacks against any remaining convoy targets.

It doesn’t say submarines stop firing. It says as long as there are legitimate combat units remaining those have to be taken as casualties instead of transports. If only air units are left defending then the attacking submarine hits would be placed on any remaining transports.

“If the combat is occurring in a convoy sea zone containing transports owned by the defender, they may not be taken as casualties until no more escorting sea or air units remain in the combat. When transports are taken as casualties, each hit immediately destroys two reinforcement land units (which can include trucks). The first is freely chosen by the defender. For the second, you select a unit type, and then the defender must choose a unit of that type.”

[AndrewAAGamer]

BTW the pop rules explains this in detail…

[nishav]

awesome, thanks!