A fleet`s default behaviour caused my ships to fly towards an enemy group of Siege Frigates pounding my colonized planet with warheads. I overrode the default behaviour by commanding them to attack a specific capital ship of the enemy`s that was on the opposite side of the planet. After destroying that ship, the fleet resumed course for the Siege Frigates... straight through the colony planet.
They *did* fly up or down a considerable distance to attempt to avoid the planet center, but the phase-through characteristic was still readily apparent.