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View Full Version : The Navy’s “Great Green Fleet” sets sail



red states rule
07-04-2012, 11:46 AM
and at a cost of $26/gallon the US taxpayers are getting screwed over once again, But hey, it is all for Mother Earth so why gripe about the cost?

Like the Chevy Volt it is the good intentions that matter the most





WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy oiler slipped away from a fuel depot on the Puget Sound in Washington state one recent day, headed toward the central Pacific and into the storm over the Pentagon's controversial green fuels initiative.

In its tanks, the USNS Henry J. Kaiser carried nearly 900,000 gallons of biofuel blended with petroleum to power the cruisers, destroyers and fighter jets of what the Navy has taken to calling the "Great Green Fleet," the first carrier strike group to be powered largely by alternative fuels.

Conventionally powered ships and aircraft in the strike group will burn the blend in an operational setting for the first time this month during the 22-nation Rim of the Pacific exercise, the largest annual international maritime warfare maneuvers. The six-week exercise began on Friday.

The Pentagon hopes it can prove the Navy looks as impressive burning fuel squeezed from seeds, algae and chicken fat as it does using petroleum.

But the demonstration, years in the making, may be a Pyrrhic victory.

Some Republican lawmakers have seized on the fuel's $26-a-gallon price, compared to $3.60 for conventional fuel. They paint the program as a waste of precious funds at a time when the U.S. government's budget remains severely strained, the Pentagon is facing cuts and energy companies are finding big quantities of oil and gas in the United States.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/07/02/usa-navy-greenfleet-idINL2E8I26IJ20120702

Gaffer
07-04-2012, 12:20 PM
Gotta wonder what this fuel will do to the engines. Could it cause breakdowns at critical points in maneuvers?

red states rule
07-04-2012, 12:21 PM
Gotta wonder what this fuel will do to the engines. Could it cause breakdowns at critical points in maneuvers?

If that happens you can bet your ass Obama and the liberal media, will blame Bush

DragonStryk72
07-04-2012, 01:36 PM
Gotta wonder what this fuel will do to the engines. Could it cause breakdowns at critical points in maneuvers?

Any moreso than all that "oil from the lowest bidder" we'd been getting before? Probably not. Having been a Machinist's Mate (The guy who works on the engine), the fact is that the engine should basically run just fine with regular maintenance, which they perform anyway. The first thing they'd have done when they heard they were switching over is pull into a yard period, likely a regularly scheduled one, and have the shipyard crew make sure the engine was ready for the new fuel.

Honestly, if the fuel ends up working better long term, or just decreases the amount of straight petroleum we're using in our ships, it could have some positive repercussions. This isn't really waste, in so much as just trying it out to see if it's feasible, hence why only a single strike group is making use of the stuff.

A secondary point in favor of the biofuels for this use is that they can be produced here, which given how much we've ended up doing in the ME, having a steady supply of US born oil for the fleet is simply pragmatic.