John Coates (naval architect)

John Francis Coates, OBE (30 March 1922 – 10 July 2010) was a British naval architect best known for his work on the study of construction of the Ancient Greek trireme.

His research led to the construction of the first working replica of triremes, the fastest and most devastating warship of Classical Mediterranean empires, and gave a greater understanding of how they were built and used.

In 1982 he was approached by Professor John Morrison of Wolfson College, Cambridge to assist with research into the design of the trireme.

Coates developed a complete design, encompassing more than 40 sheets of plans and 100 pages of specifications, which enabled the construction of a full-scale replica, the Olympias, funded by the Greek government's Ministries of Defense and Tourism in 1987.

John F. Coates actively oversaw the accuracy of the construction, including the manner in which the hull shell was held together by 20,000 pinned mortise and tenon joints.