How could existing capital ships meet an Establishment?

How could existing capital ships be standardized to a new Establishment?

They were rebuilt to the new dimensions by reshaping sound timber where possible and drawing replacements from the Navy's standing stores.

Shipwrights could steam and reshape reusable timber or replace pieces that no longer suited the new dimensions. Large dockyard stockpiles made that practical because the Navy continuously bought and seasoned wood for the service as a whole. Materials and permanent labor were already funded, which made building and rebuilding rational peacetime work. Firefighting capability grew alongside those stockpiles because stored wood, tar, hemp, and old rope made dockyards enormous fire risks.