So in 1900 Britain was the most important country because it

>>2872499
>Is naval power still important today,

Practically the only way to guarantee power projection.

naval power is more so tied with air power in modern times. naval power is important to protect your carriers and various bases that project air power. any thing a ship could sink or explode a plane could sink or explode as well.

>>2872499
I think the advances in air support equalised the field a substantial bit. Since well flying you can go anywhere any terrian mostly and its the field which offers the most space for innovation. abd then nukes came around and they became the most important aspect. Also nukes in general are a good indicator of other aspects of their armed forces.

File: USN_ships.jpg (3MB, 9996x6664px) Image search: [Google]

3MB, 9996x6664px

naval power is extremely important.

you're basically not even a country if you don't have a decent navy.

also i bet alfred mahan would be a total closet kancolle fag

>>2872499
It just power projection. If you can fuck up any a nation anywhere on the planet you are inherently more influential than a nation that can only influence it's immediate neighbors. Sea and air power are generally better at this.

>>2872499

Their role has shifted from tactical/strategic to strategic only role. Most countries who go to war attack neighboring countries where a navy isn't as useful since they have a common land border. Unless you want to challenge the world order of things, you only need enough navel assets (subs) to deter potential attackers. Land base air power is far more important.

File: 5862774726_7f0f728ab9_b.jpg (504KB, 1024x1018px) Image search: [Google]

504KB, 1024x1018px

>>2872499
An ICBM can nuke every place on the planet in minutes. Planes need hours to bomb every place to shit. Ships need weeks to get anywhere at all and are an easy target.
Naval power means nothing.

>>2873628
Practical power is still useful because if your only option is nuke or nothing than your options are limited and almost everytime you will pick nothing if you have any logic. Most war isn't total.

>>2873628
Nukes are basically useless since you can never actually use them

Naval power seems weak to people only because free trade and freedom of the sea is normative. If the US wanted to sit a fleet on every strategic waterway and tax shipping through there would be one power on Earth that could stop them without going on a very disastrous war for 95% countries who have no means to even counterattack fleets of that size.

>>2873628
naval power means quite a lot, actually

It's the only thing stopping its main rival power, china, from expanding