@kcdzim:
Yes, but to be clear: that’s not loading units in a hostile seazone on a declaration of war, especially as the UK and Italy/Germany never get to declare war on each other as they start at war, so none of that DOW shenanegins applies between them.
And further, that’s retreating from a hostile seazone and loading in a non-hostile seazone as a combat move (seemingly for an amphibious assault on a territory in SZ99). You would HAVE to assault one of those territories if you wanted to offload the units, as you moved them during a combat move and cannot offload during the noncombat phase of the same turn.
I’m not certain, but I don’t think you could load them if you weren’t able to (or didn’t want to) perform an amphibious assault either.
Correct on all counts. Since UK and Italy begin the game at war, the exemption does not apply, and transports may not be loaded in a hostile sea zone.
@Cmdr:
The transports would “disengage” during the combat move phase. The units would load the transports during the non-combat move phase or the combat move phase. I believe. Just like you can land fighters on carriers in any movement phase you want, provided you follow the rules of carrier landings. (no more than 2, you cannot magically put more fuel in the planes to get them there, etc.)
Land and sea units may never move in both the combat and noncombat movement phases. Transports starting the turn in a hostile sea zone must either fight (assuming they are escorted) or flee in the combat movement phase. If they flee, they may load (for an immediate amphibious assault only) in a friendly sea zone (unless the exemption described above allows loading in the initial hostile sea zone, which in this case it does not). In either case, they may not move, load, or unload in the noncombat movement phase.