And I was not talking about individual ships, rather classes of ships. Nor was the article talking about literal buildings, rather systems. Naval architects have in fact piecemealed warship designs, swapping out one part/concept at a time. There haven't been any significant jumps. Every step was an incremental swap of one part for another.

Look up why submarines have 21" torpedo tubes. That goes back a hundred years. Every other part of the warship has been redesigned and swapped out. The 21" tube has remained. That is a ship of theseus situation.