Naval Battle Question

[AlbertN]

This came out on us, and me and my pal looked at each other a bit puzzled.

Naval Battle. A side has no planes. The other has planes, but none of them has Air to Sea factor (as per they're all pure fighters!).

Can Naval Air combat can be called for?
Has the side without planes then the need to spend 4 Surprise point for Surface Combat? (Since otherwise a Naval Air combat is not existant, due to no bombers present.)

[AllenK]

ORIGINAL: Cohen

This came out on us, and me and my pal looked at each other a bit puzzled.

Naval Battle. A side has no planes. The other has planes, but none of them has Air to Sea factor (as per they're all pure fighters!).

Can Naval Air combat can be called for?
Has the side without planes then the need to spend 4 Surprise point for Surface Combat? (Since otherwise a Naval Air combat is not existant, due to no bombers present.)

Hi Cohen,

Short answer, yes.

From RAC
"You can choose a combat type that won’t produce a combat. For example, you can choose a naval air combat (priority 2 above) even if you only have an FTR and your opponent has no aircraft present. You might do this to prevent an unfavorable combat type from occurring."

[Ur_Vile_WEdge]

Yes and yes. It's a pretty common tactic to have lots of fighters and naval air intercept them to cover convoy points in the 0, even if the attack is only from submarines or surface ships.

[Sewerlobster]

This really makes sense too. A side that has fighters in the air has spotters that can radio the fleet of the enemy's location and thus make avoiding combat easier should that be the decision.