Re: size of ships...

(Attribution lost, but referring to a wide ship)
> If you stick a couple engines
> on either side of this mass, the elongated moment-arm makes it easier
to turn
> faster -- while the crew, near the center, is hit with less G-force.

To turn a ship's course, surely the thrust must be applied at a right-
angle to the direction of travel? The "elongated moment arms" on either 
a long or wide ship would help it spin around, so that a rear-facing 
engine may act at a right-angle to it's previous direction, so there
seems to be little difference here.

OTOH a wide ship suggests itself as a purpose built barn-door for
targetting.

-- 
David Brewer