Automation, modernization, and just better design are a big part of the reason for the difference in crew size, not just because a BB is larger. Also, as weaponized solid-state lasers and railguns come into their own, a battleship platform that carries a frightening array of them may be a wiser decision.

I read 1, 2 and 3 over the course of a month so I can't really separate them in my mind. There wasn't a lot of action that I can recall but there were some nifty little sections, particularly in regards to the technologies involved, spooky gunships out of DC-3s, Australian soldiers with AK-47s and the aforementioned…