There is probably a lot of manpower available from ships that are damaged, non-operational or been sunk and the crews abandoned ship
Take a look at a carrier - if even 1/3rd of the crew survived a sinking you are looking at 1600 men or so
And ships dont go down with everyone aboard that often - and reading the canon I dont get the impression of a nuclear war at sea - i.e. its not nuclear torpedoes and bombs taking out ships,its good old fashioned torpedoes, guns and missiles
plus keep in mind how many old timers there are out there that can be pressed into service on various ships (especially given the prospect of being able to be properly fed as compared to being a civilian)
so manpower wont be the issue here - if anything they probably have more men then they have operational ships to put them on
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