Naval diplomacy can sound like a modern category, although these duties once formed much of a navy's ordinary work. During much of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, fleets represented national interests and managed relationships between wars. The Cold War encouraged a narrower habit of measuring navies mainly by combat, even though armies and navies have different peacetime purposes. War remains a core naval function, while deterrence, visible presence, and reassurance explain why fleets are maintained through long periods without fighting. This broader view treats peace as something a navy actively sustains.
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Naval diplomacy as a navy's normal work
For much of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, fleets treated diplomacy, presence, and reassurance as ordinary peacetime work.