For the former, you're evidently not familiar with the role naval gunfire support played; if not those instances, e.g. I remember the Royal Australian Navy(RAN) Anzac using its 5 inch gun in support of the combined US and British Royal Marine push into the Al-Faw Peninsula right flank, read up on e.g. the WWII invasion of Sicily or D-Day, when Omaha beach had two old US battleships dedicated to it (would have hated to be a German on the other side when e.g. the Texas used it's 10 14 inch guns to "clear" a beach exit).

For the latter, the misattributed Trotsky quote "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." applies. As does the principle of deterrence.