@Trogdor - having very long ships undocking and moving forwards with their butts facing the planet (or sometimes sticking IN planet) was one of the troubles that was causing these massive ships to explode during undock. I imagine having them reverse out of the mooring was a means to try to prevent this.
Is there a way to make the undocking dependent on the type of ship? (ex. Transports undock backwards, gunboats undock forwards, etc?)