As Colosseum said, and from the Shipbucket FAQ page: "Shipbucket is a collective group effort to compile a database of ship profiles (drawings) primarily of real life naval vessels depicted in a common style and at a common scale of 2 pixels to 1 foot."
That is Shipbucket's mission statement. To radically change the style now would result in a
very large number of otherwise perfectly good drawings to become immediately outdated, going against the very purpose of Shipbucket's existence. Obviously you're welcome to your own opinion of the style - if you think it's bland that's fine - but it exists in its current form for a reason. Naturally the style has and will continue to evolve over time, but these changes have all remained in the spirit of the mission statement above.
Changing subject, I really like what you've done with the gradient version
It's a great representation of a nice looking cruiser. My only thought is that the bow and stern look a little unrestrained at the moment - perhaps a darker grey line to give it some definition?