When navies most shaped economy and culture

In what period did naval forces have their greatest cultural and economic effect?

Navies have long mattered economically, but their cultural effect was especially large during the eighteenth century as professional fleets expanded.

Naval forces have always carried major economic consequences. Fleets require logistics, infrastructure, and political centralisation on a scale that many locally supported armies did not. Their cultural influence was especially large in the eighteenth century, when navies were becoming larger and more professional. Maritime power was tied to state capacity and public identity, far beyond the warships themselves.