You don't actually have to completely destroy an enemy ship to force it out of action. Truth be told all you need is to cause significant enough damage that the ship needs to be removed from the line for repairs. If you can disable an enemy ship and the enemy can't get it mobile again either via tow or under its own power and they have to withdraw then the ship will have to be scuttled or risk capture.

This means commanders are much more wary of taking damage to their ships particularly if they don't have easy access to a tender or dry-dock. Most naval battles throughout history have been somewhat indecisive usually relying more on strategic control of ports and water ways with surface fleets. While the latter is likely not going to be as much in space the former likely will be. Controlling major shipyards able to service damaged ships is vital to naval victories.

5712020
And in some ways, it's even more draining on the enemy to disable the ship since then the ship is taking up valuable dry dock space that could be used to build a new ship, draining resources that could go to constructing newer ships, and it requires maintaining tugs near the frontlines which is an additional drain on resources.

5712035
That and they have to keep the damaged ship safe during transport, a situation in which it and possibly the vessel towing it will be very vulnerable. tThe number of ships lost while they tried to make a run for a friendly port is long indeed and with many famous names such as Bismark and Yorktown.

5712406
Made even more dangerous by the ordinance and fuels that would be needed for a starship. You'd basically force the enemy to tow a giant bomb to their own shipyards.

5712020
Good point.

5712429
5712558
Of course this depends also on the situation. Critically damaged ships have been known to go down swinging if the situation is dire enough. In which case they may abandon defense and switch to pure offense, ie Kamikaze or simply ignoring enemy fire to assume more advantageous firing positions. The situation where you know you're fucked but you refuse to go quietly.

5713251
True, but it would be rather difficult to do so if the engines are disabled.

5713306
Who said anything about the engines? All you need to fight to the death is to have the guns still work and die standing.

5714587
And without the ability to maneuver you can't pick when to fight, when to withdraw, or get into an ideal firing position. Unless that ship was on the defensive near some important installation, there's no reason to continue engaging her if she keep up with the fleets.

5714641
Redshirt this the not ideal, "we can't run away situation" I am talking about. The we have only a choice between scuttling the ship and hoping for rescue or stand and fight and hope someone can get to us in time to rescue us.

5716326
I think that there may have been a miscommunication at some point. I was talking about how disabling the engines effectively mission-kill a starship given the vast distances in space.