Glad to know you're paying attention to details! I must also say I saw the "John W. Brown" a few years ago when she visited my local harbor, and the model looks just like her - I can't find any problems.
It's been 15 years, and although the developers did a good job, it's high time to revamp the Silent Hunter series merchant shipping.
Also, if you are concerned about poly count, you can used S3d Editor's "minimum render dimension" controller for high-detailed parts so they're not rendered until the player gets close to them. That's a trick I use on my ships for human figures, etc.