Gorshkov's global-presence strategy

What was Soviet naval influence in Africa and Asia intended to achieve?

It built global political influence and created the possibility that Western states would have to face Soviet maritime pressure in several theatres at once.

Soviet activity in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere supported political relationships and the possibility of favourable neutrality in a wider war. The strategy combined German-style surface-raider thinking with naval diplomacy. Its intended effect was to make Western planners account for submarines and surface ships far from Europe as well as in it. Gorshkov's The Sea Power of the State is recommended for its maps and discussion of carriers, with the caveat that the English edition is a translation. Reading the strategy therefore also requires attention to the translator's choices and the institutional purpose of the original text.