[Pablo]

Hi!

U-boats did indeed sink many neutral ships during World War II. Sometimes there was a problem, such as when Mexico declared war on Germany after Kapitänleutnant Reinhard "Teddy" Suhren in U-564 sank the Mexican tanker in Portrero de Llano May, 1942. At other times there were not, as when neutral ships were sunk while traveling in escorted convoys, or if an aggrieved country felt it was less damaging to suffer occasional predation by U-boats rather than risk general war with Germany.

One reason for this apparent discrepancy was that neutral ships sailing in a convoy protected by warships of a belligerent power were not considered "neutral" from the standpoint of the Hague Conventions, but neutral ships sailing alone and illuminated were considered "neutral." For example, Mexico claimed as casus belli the fact that the tanker that Kapitänleutnant Suhren sank was illuminated, though Suhren claimed it was not illuminated; on the other hand, Kapitänleutnant Erich Topp (U-552) sank the (ostensibly) neutral destroyer USS Reuben James in October 1941 without penalty because U.S. warships were acting as belligerents, although sinking U.S. merchant ships sailing alone was forbidden.

Stock Silent Hunter III treats any neutral ship as a neutral ship, regardless of whether it is in an escorted convoy or traveling alone. In game terms, it penalizes a player for sinking every possible target in sight without checking its flag to see to which country it belongs.

GWX simulates real life as far as possible by having a few illuminated ships that are used only by countries are currently neutral, but creating an illuminated "neutral" version of every merchant ship would be a lot of work as well as adding a lot of ships (and size) to GWX. The U.S. situation would also be fairly complex towards the end of 1941, with "hostile" warships and "neutral" merchant ships. Yikes!

Pablo