The presence of a warship is a clear signal of the interest or concern of a state or of a group of states in the cause of a multinational force, about a situation. Changes in the way the world conducts business or in the priorities of states and individuals will not on their own alter the basic concept of seapower or the need for it to maintain order in the world. Yet the changes taking place today require that seapower become ever more flexible in the ways it is used to solve problems. While the need for traditional skills will remain largely unaltered, new skills may be called for. It is not difficult to envisage the use of warships including submarines to monitor a situation of concern to collect analyze and correlate data, and to report back to a p political authority.
Information management is enormously important in modern diplomacy and in responding to crisis.
A well-positioned ship can thus become an invaluable if not essential element of the crisis management process. Warships can also provide an almost immediate source of comfort and relief in a disaster. They can provide a base for many types of operation until such a base as a base can be established ashore. They can provide security. Other ship cannot do these thins to the same extent because they are not symbols of authority and they do not have the same vast pool of individual skills found in a modern warship.