Navy To Conduct Largest Maritime Alternative Fuel Demonstration On Self Defense Test Ship

The tests and demonstrations of alternative fuels for shipboard use supports the secretary of the Navy’s energy target to demonstrate a Green Strike Group by 2012, and deploy a strike group composed completely of alternatively powered ships, “the Great Green Fleet,” by 2016.

The ship will receive approximately 20,000 gallons of a 50-50 blend of hydro-processed algal oil and petroleum F-76 at Defense Fuel Support Point Loma, San Diego to power one propulsion gas turbine and one ship service gas turbine. The ship will depart Point Loma at Nov. 16, 5 p.m., PST,
for overnight transit to Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Huemene Division, Port Hueneme, Calif.

The Self Defense Test Ship, decommissioned Spruance-class destroyer Paul F. Foster (EDD 964), provides anat-sea, remotely controlled, self defense weapons engineering platform for the purpose of conducting advanced evaluations without risk to personnel or deployable assets. Originally designed to strictly test self defense weapons, the ship now supports a wide variety of engineering tests and evaluating aspects of naval systems.