Going to armor those fuel tanks on the side? Or does the design hold that if you're hit in any way, you're a goner regardless?

Given how this ship has the rough displacement of an old Gato class submarine (rough comparison) from WWII, there really isn't much one can do to armor it up without sacrificing what little velocity it has. Better to armor up vital systems and let the fuel tanks rupture, venting mostly to space, if a hit manages to get past the anti-missile rocket system - design compromise and lesser of evils... and yes, generally not getting hit was considered a very good idea on one of these tin-cans. Not really built to take direct punishment, relying on its Anti-Missile system and the long range of it's own main battery to keep its targets at bay. It is not uncommon for crews of these to open up hefty life-insurance policies before deployment.