Which surviving museum ships best illustrate the ship-of-Theseus idea?
Short answerConstitution is the clear example of a wooden frigate kept afloat through repeated repair and replacement.
NotesConstitution exemplifies an old wooden warship kept afloat through continual renewal. Surviving age-of-sail frigates depend on replacing and repairing their structures, so the ship's identity persists while individual pieces of timber and equipment change. A related anecdote credits early 19th-century Danish naval timber provision with wood becoming available roughly two centuries later. The long wait for that material adds a different timescale to the work of preserving a ship.