Why a rebuilt sailing warship becomes a different ship

How useful would a long-refitted Sovereign of the Seas be in the Napoleonic Wars?

It could serve as a first rate, but extensive rebuilding would leave little of the original ship beyond its identity and perhaps decoration.

Keeping Sovereign of the Seas in service into the Napoleonic era would require repeated major rebuilding. The ship could retain her famous name and still serve as a first rate. Decorative gold work might also be carried into the rebuilt vessel. Her structural timbers, however, would eventually be replaced completely. The surviving identity would therefore be historical and institutional rather than material.