I don't know about you guys, but one of the highest priorties for this game right now should be Fleet Wars.

Yes, the new ships will be very welcomed, but Fleet Wars is a digital form of free marketing.  The more people that gets to participate in say, an organized 8v8 or 12v12, means more players from fleets will join and participate.  This means that larger fleets will want more members in order to play multiple Fleet battles in a single night.  This in turn, means more recruiting of fresh players, and more advertisement to look for players to come play Navy Field.

If you want to extend the longevity of the game, I would seriously look into making a 8v8 platoon that can only be queued with other parties of similar size.  This implementation would be the single best thing to sustain the existing playerbase (player retention), while drawing in new and old players alike.

Think about it, please.
http://steamcharts.com/cmp/338540#1m