Task forces existed before the steam age

Why did task-force doctrine not exist before the age of steam?

It did exist in practice, but earlier navies usually described it as force doctrine rather than using modern task-force terminology.

Task forces did not depend on steam propulsion. Age-of-sail admirals routinely detached mixed or specially selected groups for particular missions. Those formations were described as forces, squadrons, or commands according to contemporary usage. What changed later was the vocabulary and, in the American case, the formal numerical hierarchy. The old operational practice therefore needs to be separated from its modern administrative system.