The title pretty much sums up my question, but I was wondering how much damage a wooden 15th-19th century ship could sustain— be it through battle, collision with geographical features, or adverse conditions— and still be repaired to what might reasonably be called its full operational capabilities. I do not know much about ship construction in this era, but how would the repair or replacement of large, integral pieces of the ship's construction be performed (in terms of how much the ship would have to be dismantled to repair it)? Was it more likely for portions of the ship to be patched/repaired, or replaced entirely?
Have we not answered this question before? I thought we did - it's just a matter of wording the search correctly. The short answer of when I answer this question is "damage is really hard to quantify into more than 'a lot' or 'minor damage' and what falls into what category varies from ship to ship, varies between time periods, and varies between parts of the world." More specific a question might help too.
You might be interested in the loss of the HMS Royal George, a 100 gun ship of the line which sank while undergoing work on its hull in Portsmouth Harbour in 1782. The crew, using ballast, had heeled the ship over to one side, so that the lower part of one side of the hull was above the water line and available for work. However, the process was mismanaged and the ship took on water through her lower gunports and ended up sinking with a calamatous loss of life.
A similar method, careening, was also employed where the ship would be beached at low tide on a sandy expanse, and repairs, recaulking, or scraping the hull clean of detritus could be effected with little risk. When complete, the ship would be refloated at high tide with the assistance of a kedging anchor(s) and the capstan to pull the ship free from the beach.
Source: "Jack Tar: Life in Nelson's Navy" by Roy & Lesley Adkins