Posted on 01/21/2016 12:30:20 PM PST by PROCON
The US navy on Wednesday launched its first carrier strike group powered partly by biofuel a mix made from beef fat, calling it a milestone toward easing the military's reliance on foreign oil.
The maritime branch touted the warships as the centrepiece of its "Great Green Fleet" part of a navy-wide initiative that aims to draw 50% of its power from alternative energy in four years.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Yeah...bad headline. The lead in line has it right..."The US navy on Wednesday launched its first carrier strike group powered partly by biofuel".
And the USS William P Lawrence is not an aircraft carrier.
I can see the ad now:
“More Navy destroyers use Wesson than any other oil. It’s low smoke.” ;-)
Conventional CV’s are cheaper to build and operate than nuc CVN. I am not a big fan of CVNs. I think CV’s are much better and have the same mission capabilities. The CAG could care less how the snipes are boiling the water down below.
Even if the carrier is nuclear all of the other ships in the battle group are conventional powered, so you need the oilers anyway. Might as well have all the ships on the same fuel.
And who wants to do damage control on a nuc ship. 'Hot' water sloshing around all over the place.
LOL you even need to ask?
It’s another gravy handout to the agriculture lobby
I believe the nuclear carriers can carry twice the amount of aviation fuel that a conventional carrier could since they do not need to carry fuel for boilers.
The only carrier ordered during Carter’s presidency is the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Which is nuclear powered.
But it was also ordered at the very end of his presidency, as he and the Democrats were trying to burnish their military credentials against the politcal threat posed by Reagan.
So that’s why the make fleet oilers. They can keep up.
I don’t blame the Navy for this stupidity (and probably a front for cronies stealing money). The world is awash in oil.
But you can’t generate the same number of sorties as a nuke before having to come off the line and refuel. I think the ratio is 1.5 or 1.75 CVs for 1 CVN to generate an equivilant sustained sortie rate.
Nuke carriers are a very smart investment.
I think a CV on station refuels every 7 days. The support combat vessels every 4 days. It doesn't take that long to refuel. Once on station, a CVBG makes circles going about 10 knots and only speeds up during flight quarters. It can really stretch it between refueling evolutions.
CVN's are ego boosts to the surface Navy. I'd rather have 20 CV's than 15 CVN's.
IN a hot war if CV takes a hit to it's man engineering spaces personnel from other ships can help out. But a Nuc ship requires specialized nuky snipes.
Biofuels are interesting but not to be relied on now. But remember that Rudolpf Diesel designed his engine to run on peanut oil. Further research should be done.
“Flank Speed, Helmsperson!”
“Sir, the green stuff has plunged up the intakes. We have no power to the shaft.”
“I don’t care. Those inbound missiles will hit us unless we deploy the counter measures.”
“Sir, the green sludge has plugged up the intakes. We have no way to power the countermeasures.”
“Look Helmsperson, Mabus assured me this green stuff will work, and damn it you will get moving now or you’ll be spending time in the brig for insubordination.”
“Sir, moving out now for the brig.”
I stand corrected, thank you.
Flight deck smells like french fries?
Even the Nukes have to have DFM and JP5 for operations. The DFM {Diesel Fuel Marine} runs the emergency diesel generators} and JP5 runs the planes and the carrier's 11 Utility boats for transporting crew to shore in foreign ports.
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