Why global power needs a fleet

Why would the USSR need a large fleet?

Stalin wanted global influence and naval diplomacy; a fleet can maintain presence and reach in ways land forces and land-based aircraft cannot.

Stalin wanted a large fleet to practise naval diplomacy and make the Soviet Union a global rather than merely continental power. Ships can remain deployed and be replenished at sea, while aircraft must repeatedly return to nearby bases. Sea power does not make every other form of power irrelevant. It gives states an unusually persistent form of global reach.