More can be said, but previous answers by /u/jschooltiger answers some reasonably similar questions: How did ship design, especially warships, work during the 18th and early 19th century? Was it centralised, like it would be in the 20th, with a central corps of naval architects passing designs out to the shipyards to build? Or would each shipyard have its own designer, and do it's own thing? Were there standardised classes of ships, or was each ship unique? and How did the British Navy remain dominant for such a long period of time? which despite the title discusses the logistics of shipbuilding to some extent. Hope that helps!