Navy, USDA launch Great Green Fleet with deployment of ships running on alternative fuel

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack recently launched the deployment of the USS John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group (JCS CSG), part of the Great Green Fleet, at California’s Naval Air Station North Island.

The deployment included the USS Stockdale, an Arleigh-Burke-class missile destroyer that is the first surface combatant to have alternative fuel in its regular operational supply.

"When it comes to power, my focus has been about one thing and one thing only: better warfighting," Mabus said. "The Great Green Fleet shows how we are transforming our energy use to make us better warfighters, to go farther, stay longer, and deliver more firepower. In short, to enable us to provide the global presence that is our mission."

Surface ships in the JCS CSG use an alternative fuel created with waste beef fat purchased from Midwest farmers through a Naval and Department of Agriculture (USDA) partnership.

"The Navy's use of renewable energy in the Great Green Fleet represents its ability to diversify its energy sources, and also our nation's ability to take what would be a waste product and create homegrown, clean, advanced biofuels to support a variety of transportation needs," Vilsack said. "Today's deployment proves that America is on its way to a secure, clean energy future, where both defense and commercial transportation can be fueled by our own hardworking farmers and ranchers, reduce landfill waste, and bring manufacturing jobs back to rural America."