Wooden Warship Construction: A History In Ship ... Info

Construction began in the forest, not the dockyard. The choice of wood was a strategic decision:

Once the skeleton was set, it was covered in heavy oak planking. These planks were often steamed to make them pliable enough to follow the ship’s curves. Wooden Warship Construction: A History in Ship ...

To make the hull watertight, shipwrights hammered "oakum" (old, tar-soaked rope fibers) into the seams between planks. Construction began in the forest, not the dockyard

By the late 1700s, hulls were "copper-bottomed." This involved nailing thin sheets of copper over the wood to prevent the growth of barnacles and the destructive Teredo navalis (shipworm), which could otherwise eat through a hull in months. Structural Innovation: The Diagonal Truss To make the hull watertight, shipwrights hammered "oakum"

The preferred choice for the hull due to its density and natural resistance to rot. "Compass timber"—naturally curved branches—was highly prized for the ship’s "knees" (the L-shaped brackets supporting the decks).

Often used in the British East Indies for its extreme durability and natural oils, making it almost impervious to wood-boring worms.