But seriously, the Catalogue of Ships?

How can I expect students to be interested in the catalogue of ships in book 2?

Students assigned to read Book 2 may at first panic at the thought of being tested on the minutiae of the catalogue.  It is best to allay that fear at the start.  One can simply decide not to use this minutiae on quizzes and tests, or one can decide to allow the students to create and use a study aid, or one can provide such a study aid oneself.

But what value does reading the catalogue give?  Firstly, the reader gets a sense of what a vast army the Greeks had assembled on the Trojan shore, and how outnumbered the Trojans were.  

Then, as one reads, one comes across the big names and begins to be able to assess what kind of status each leader should have had.  Often this is predictable--Agamemnon led one hundred ships, for example.  But some of the mightiest heroes led smaller contingents--for example:

Out of Salamis Great Telamonian Ajax led twelve ships...

and

That mastermind like Zeus, Odysseus led these fighters on.

In his command sailed twelve ships, prows flashing crimson.

(Fagles' translation)

What kind of leadership and respect was this, that placed the leaders of twelve ships above those man who led thirty, forty or fifty ships--described here in the catalogue--yet appear only sparsely in the action of the poem?