There is one other option and that is to secure a Premium ship and sell it in harbor.
That is a way to increase the credits and points.

10-12 blitz games should get you around 50k credits and points. Just roll some random neutral sailors and use them on an FF or NDD until you get how many you need. I know it sucks early but eventually you will have more points then you know what to do with.

I'm over the hump now. I retired my gunners temporarily and used my torpedomen until I had enough points to class that 2nd gunner.

I call them torpedomen because they have +12 torpedo for my SS crew but bad gunner stats even though one has +12 accuracy also (yeah, I rolled one with +12 accuracy and +12 reloadm but only +9 reload). They're still gunners, and since I'm planning on the SS line I need to level them anyway.

Rolling my sailors is what did it. I did not want to settle for the starter crew even though the gunners look decent enough. I have +12 acc/+10 reload gunners instead of +11/+11, and my future SS crew is +12 torpedo(x2), +13 pot/+11 rep/+11 rest for sonarman (I'll class him late), +15 pot planesman, +15 pot BO. I also rolled a pair of +12 reload gunners, some more +12 engineers and repair, and quite a few +12 bombers. No restorers though.

That's where my points went :) Took hours and I wound up passing up even more +12 bombers because I needed that 2nd torpedoman, I just wasn't getting it, and I was at 20k points already. That's before I even exited the harbor for the first time.

Lesson learned: Rolling sailors in the beginning can give you a good crew you won't regret later, but you might wind up with a serious points shortage because they level fast and will all need classing.