@Cow:
You can load units in a hostile seazone if the seazone became hostile only because of your declaration of war on that turn
Where is this from? quote your rules please.
It’s in the Declaring War section of the rules, not the Transport section.
“During your Combat Move phase following the the entry of of into a state of war, your transports that are already in sea zones that have just become hostile may be loaded in those sea zones (but not in other hostile sea zones). Â In effect, transports may be loaded in their initial sea zones for amphibious assaults before war is declared, while the sea zone is still friendly.”
This is from alpha 3, but it is also in the box on the right column on p15 of AAE40 (did not check p40, but I’m sure it’s there).
Also, to answer your other question, “Sea zones are either hostile or friendly.” is on p8 of the same book. Â Hostile is defined as containing surface warships of a power that you are at war with.
Hope that helps!