Three Navy ships based in San Diego sailed Wednesday, January 20, for a seven-month deployment.
The ships are unusual in using an alternative type of fuel during their regular operations.
The deployed ships are the USS Mobile Bay, a cruiser; and the destroyers USS William P. Lawrence and USS Stockdale. The three are part of a carrier strike group being led by the USS John C. Stennis, an aircraft carrier home-ported in Bremerton, Washington. The group will be joined by another destroyer, the USS Chung-Hoon, at Pearl Harbor.
All the surface ships, according to the Navy, are powered by a mixture of fuels, including beef fat, which is supplied by Midwestern farmers.
The Navy buys the fat at a competitive price via a partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Navy.
Tom Vilsack, who is the Secretary of Agriculture, said that by using renewable energy, the Navy is demonstrating the nation's ability to diversify the sources from which it derives energy, as well as transforming a waste product into a clean, homegrown, advanced biofuel. Vilsack added the fuel blend proves the United States is on its way to a future of clean energy.
Navy officials might consider working with brochure printers on a booklet that describes the fuel blend and how well it works, and making the information widely available at the conclusion of the deployment.
