Great diorama! I kept scrolling forth and back to see every detail you described. The damage to the hull is not very clearly visible and therefore I didn’t get the meaning of the title at first. Maybe it helps if to take a few strands of Fiberfil (what they use for stuffed animals) and try and create smoke coming from the hull, to draw attention to the hole? A bit like this, but then with more fibres of course:
You can use hairspray to get them in the shape you like…