Excellent devlog as always! I've felt the same way about time manipulation in games -- totally detracts from any immersion. A turn-based approach sounded a little worrisome at first, but then you mentioned Valkyria Chronicles which did an excellent job of using real-time and turn-based.
Will be interesting to see how the ships turn out, the basic profiles look good but very flat in their 2D form. Maybe ship shadows on the water or adjusting the lighting on parts of the ship would be enough to give them more depth.