The next part of Article 37, also quoted in the article, contrasts (which is forbidden) perfidy with permissible ruses of war. It’s a very blurry line, but act

The next part of Article 37, also quoted in the article, contrasts (which is forbidden) perfidy with permissible ruses of war. It’s a very blurry line, but actual combat seems to be one major distinction. Disguising a battleship as an enemy or merchant vessel seems to be okay...as long as the disguise is dropped before engaging. However, marking it as a hospital ship seems right out regardless of the situation because the hospital emblem is specially protected because those ships are never supposed to be attacked. This database has many countries’ interpretation of the differences: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul_rule57 https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul...