Only IF you are a nation with an overwhelming superiority, but if other colonial powers start building their navy you can find yourself in a situation were you need the naval ideas to keep up with the "arms race". The UK, for example, took as rule of thumb having the same number of big ships than the two next naval powers combined (altohugh that rule was taken out of the eu iv timeframe, iirc). Even if you have enough ships to do that, an alliance of the two next naval powers would thretaen your empire, thus you would need to invest in naval ideas to keep ahead. Have in mind that in my suggestion having enough combat ships would be vital. Even a pirric victory might cripple your empire, with colonies trying to break free and your trade and tariff income dropping to zero.
