Rules of engagement in 1939

[WolfOfTheSteppes]

Hello Gentlemen, lieutenant WolfOfTheSteppes, Commander of the U51 reporting for duty!

I’m new to this forum, so hello everyone! I have a quick question and I don’t think it has been posted before.

I have SH3+GWX3 and I started a new campaign. I had played SH3 when it came out a long time ago, and I was just amazed by all the changes GWX brought to the game. I was surprised to start a month before the hostilities and I perfectly understood that I was not supposed to attack anyone, so I just went to my patrol grid BF17 in the Atlantic and went round England to be on the country east cost when the time would come to start hunting.

Hostilities with England were declared on September 3 and I got a message to attack at will all British warships, and to engage any British merchant vessel by following the international rules of engagement (or something similar). I did not pay attention to that very much. I intercepted a contact by radio, track it by hydrophone (the weather was bad and the visibility was not poor but relatively low), intercepted visually a British costal merchant (confirmed it by looking closely at his flag by zooming with the periscope), and sank it with two torpedoes. I reported that to the BDU, which congratulated me, and when I exited the game, I saw that I had sunk a neutral ship.

So what about the rules of engagement? Does it play a role? Shall I first announce myself to the ship by being visible and then sink it if it does not stop its engines? Shall I get a little bit further into the campaign first?

In addition, I spent all my reputation on arming my Type II submarine, is it bad to have a negative reputation or is there a time when you risk court martial?

Thank you Commanders, SINK THEM ALL!!!!!
Wolf