diff --git a/data/shipScreen.json b/data/shipScreen.json
index 48e27eb..334df7b 100644
--- a/data/shipScreen.json
+++ b/data/shipScreen.json
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@
         "hotBelow": 0.34
       },
       {
-        "_comment": "CURRENT HULL \u2014 the armor actually on the ship right now (the live fight's hull; full strength with no fight running).",
+        "_comment": "CURRENT HULL \u2014 the armor actually on the ship right now (the combat ledger's hull; it persists between fights and reads full once a landing or jump-arrival repairs it).",
         "id": "hullNow",
         "group": "armor",
         "label": "CURRENT HULL",
diff --git a/js/scenes/GameScene.js b/js/scenes/GameScene.js
index 9565b46..227a51f 100644
--- a/js/scenes/GameScene.js
+++ b/js/scenes/GameScene.js
@@ -8923,21 +8923,26 @@ export class GameScene extends Phaser.Scene {
     const s = this.ship;
     if (!s) return null;
     const c = this.combat;
-    const fighting = !!(c && c.active);
     // The maxima come from the combat system when it exists — that's where
     // the per-level armor bump lands (progression.reward.hullPerLevel /
     // shieldPerLevel), so the plate never shows a stale base number.
     const hullMax = Math.max(1, Math.round(Number(c?.maxHull ?? s.stats?.hullIntegrity) || 0));
     const shieldsMax = Math.max(0, Math.round(Number(c?.maxShields ?? s.stats?.shields) || 0));
+    // The CURRENT armor is the combat system's ledger too — it PERSISTS
+    // between fights (damage only heals on a landing's repairFull or a
+    // jump's arrival repair), so the plate reads it even when no pack is
+    // live: a fight over at half hull is still flying at half hull.
+    const hullNow = c ? Math.max(0, Math.round(Number(c.hull) || 0)) : hullMax;
+    const shieldsNow = c ? Math.max(0, Math.round(Number(c.shields) || 0)) : shieldsMax;
     // THE SKILL TREE DOOR — the ship console's standby tab lights the moment the
     // run's class owns a tree (data/skills.json → classes.<id>.skills).
     const skillDoor = !!(this.classState?.hasClass && skillHasTree(this.classState.id));
     return {
       skillDoor,
       live: {
-        hull: fighting ? Math.max(0, Math.round(Number(c.hull) || 0)) : hullMax,
+        hull: hullNow,
         hullMax,
-        shields: fighting ? Math.max(0, Math.round(Number(c.shields) || 0)) : shieldsMax,
+        shields: shieldsNow,
         shieldsMax,
       },
       ship: {
diff --git a/js/ship/ShipScreenModel.js b/js/ship/ShipScreenModel.js
index 3eec6c0..5c3c9b6 100644
--- a/js/ship/ShipScreenModel.js
+++ b/js/ship/ShipScreenModel.js
@@ -12,12 +12,17 @@
  *   'ship:<dotted path>'    a field of the ship snapshot (stats.cargoHold,
  *                           minerals, credits, cargo.used …) — state the run
  *                           mutates (upgrades, ore, buys/sells).
- *   'live:<key>'            the LIVE combat session's armor (hull / hullMax /
- *                           shields / shieldsMax), folded by GameScene: while
- *                           a fight runs these are the session's values, and
- *                           with no fight they read the maxima (the ship is
- *                           never damaged out of combat — the plate says so
- *                           through the row's `nominalLabel`).
+ *   'live:<key>'            the combat session's armor (hull / hullMax /
+ *                           shields / shieldsMax), folded by GameScene:
+ *                           the combat system's ledger PERSISTS between
+ *                           fights (damage only heals on a landing's
+ *                           repairFull or a jump's arrival repair), so
+ *                           these read the run's current armor whether a
+ *                           fight is live or not — and only with no combat
+ *                           system do they read the maxima (a fresh, never-
+ *                           flown ship). The `nominalLabel` is the row's
+ *                           at-full copy (hull at its limit is 'NOMINAL'),
+ *                           not an out-of-combat flag.
  *
  * Optional per-row math: op 'reciprocal' (a cooldown → a rate) and, for an
  * array of sources, op 'product' (damage × shots/sec = DPS). A row's meter is