How the Cold War pushed navies toward total warships

Was much of twentieth-century warship classification an aberration from the older capital-ship, cruiser, and sloop pattern?

To an extent, especially during the Cold War, when the expectation of imminent total war drove fleets toward highly specialized, maximum-capability ships.

Naval categories may be returning to a traditional division among capital ships, cruising ships, and smaller presence vessels. The exceptional period is placed roughly between the 1940s and 1990s, rather than across the first three quarters of the twentieth century. The belief that total war could begin at any moment encouraged navies to make every major ship a maximum-capability combatant. Planning then concentrated on a few decisive theatres, while routine global requirements received contingency solutions and little long-term attention. The resulting shortage of affordable presence ships follows from that narrow focus.