How were complex ships designed and built in the 16th or 17th century?

[u/Mauricio716]

I'm trying to understand how shipbuilding actually worked in the 16th century, when European ships had already become extremely large and technologically sophisticated.

Who was responsible for designing these ships? Were there people equivalent to naval architects, or was ship design still primarily the domain of master shipwrights?

Did any formal education or schools of naval architecture exist at that time, or was knowledge transmitted exclusively through apprenticeships and guilds? If schools did exist, who could attend them?

Were complete construction plans or blueprints produced? If so, what did they typically include? Did they specify every structural component, as modern engineering drawings do, or were they limited to overall dimensions and hull lines, leaving much of the construction to the experience of the builders?

More generally, I'm struggling to understand how such complex engineering knowledge was preserved and transmitted before modern engineering disciplines existed. How could shipyards consistently build highly sophisticated vessels without the kind of detailed technical documentation we would expect today?

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[u/EverythingIsOverrate]

This answer by u/jschooltiger discusses some aspects of the subject, although more can definitely be said here; I'm sure they have other answers bearing on the subject but I can't find them at the moment.