A Correlian Corvette has, as calculated previously, something like 84,000 square feet of potentially useable floor...

A Correlian Corvette has, as calculated previously, something like 84,000 square feet of potentially useable floor space.

Some of that is bedrooms, duty stations, eating rooms. Growing food, scrubbing oxygen and filtering water. That takes a lot of space.

Fully half is decontamination: showers, sinks, hand sanitization procedures, and rooms filled with chlorine. Half the crew are a part of this, and any marines onboard are expected to help.

Docking ship to ship is insanely dangerous; not only do two ships need to align perfectly, but each has it's own viruses. Exposure to that kills crews. Imagine runaway flu spreading through a crew, putting everyone into the medbay.

An air lock needs to cycle chlorine gas along with O2 to kill germs. That all needs to be retained. Chlorine gas is as important as a ship's O2 reserves.

Every few meters, a sanitizer station. You're not expected to use them every time, but people forget, so large ships have more than you need. These rely on the chlorine reserves.

When Stormtroopers broke onto the Tantive IV, those helmets protected them. Not from laser guns, but from those Alderaanan viruses. Before a stormtrooper breaths air, it is decontaminated. Their Navy equivalents don't allow diseases brought back to the Star Destroyer.