Sub defending against Aircraft Carrier and Transport

[AndrewAAGamer]

Sorry for asking however I cannot find this definitive answer anywhere.

Scenario: An Aircraft Carrier and a Transport with loaded ground troops ends their combat move in a sea zone occupied by a lone defending submarine. Can the sub block the amphibious assault since the transport and aircraft carrier BOTH have a combat attack of 0 or does the the aircraft carrier count as a ship with an attack value, even though that value is 0, and thus may now ignore the sub. I would guess yes it may conduct the landing but I am not sure.

I base this on the fact that in the rules it says a Transport has a combat value of 0. It does not say an aircraft carrier has a combat value of 0. The carrier has an attack of 0 but it seems to still have a combat value nevertheless.

Global 2nd Edition Rules under Transport: (Bold added by me)
No Combat Value: Even though a transport can attack or defend, either alone or with other units, it has a combat value of 0. This means that a transport can’t fire in the attacking units’ or the defending units’ fire steps. Transports may not attack without being accompanied by at least 1 unit with an attack value, unless they are conducting an amphibious assault from a friendly sea zone that is free of enemy submarines.

[Witt]

@AndrewAAGamer good day. The Aircraft Carrier counts as an escort, despite not having an attack value. The Sub is ignored and the amphibious assault can go ahead.

[Panther]

@AndrewAAGamer said in Sub defending against Aircraft Carrier and Transport:

It does not say an aircraft carrier has a combat value of 0. The carrier has an attack of 0 but it seems to still have a combat value nevertheless.

Look at the Pacific1940.2 rulebook, page 14. There it says:

Aircraft Carriers
Although they don’t have an attack value and aren’t represented on the
battle strip, carriers can still participate in an attack and can take hits,
as long at least 1 unit with an attack value attacks along with them. …

That should clarify the role of an Aircraft Carrier.

But your scenario is somehow independent from this. Here the rule says (from page 15, Transports section):

However, a transport is not allowed to offload land units for an amphibious assault in a sea zone containing 1 or more ignored enemy submarines unless at least 1 warship belonging to the attacking power is also present in the sea zone at the end of the Combat Move phase.

The carrier is a warship (regardless of its attack value) and the requirement for the transport being accompanied by a warship at the end of the Combat Move phase is fulfilled, too.
So nothing prevents the transport from unloading during Conduct Combat phase, here.
What the attacker can’t do is to attack the submarine, of course.

[Witt]

@Panther thanks for the Full explanation and pages . I didn’t have time to check for @AndrewAAGamer .

[AndrewAAGamer]

@Panther @Wittmann Thank you BOTH for your answers and confirming what I suspected.

[simon33]

Oh boy, that paragraph quoted in the OP needs to be tidied up. If the rules as explained by panther are correct (which is what I thought it was too), then the rulebook is misleading there.

[Krieghund]

In the latest printing, that last sentence reads, “Transports may not attack in a sea battle without being accompanied by at least 1 unit with an attack value.”