What are Blue-water, Brown-water and Green-water Navies?

The Blue water navy means the navy which is capable of operating in Blue-water (high seas) naval capability. Four distinct navies which have maritime capabilities to operate as blue navies are USA, UK, France and Russia. Please note that traditionally it was common to refer to all non blue-water navies as “brown-water navies”. Now the Blue-water navies are generally defined as being capable of sustained overseas deployment, with equipments such as aircraft carriers. So the term green-water navies is restricted to those operating in coastal and regional areas such as littoral zones. The Brown water navy is defines as maritime forces operating in littoral zone to 200 nautical miles (370 km).