Navy's first hybrid-drive warship goes to sea

Written by
Jeanette Steele
11:56 a.m., Nov. 14, 2011
Updated 3:37 p.m.

The future of the Navy, and a baby step toward ending America’s military dependence on oil, chugged out of San Diego Bay on Monday.

Now two years old, the Makin Island departed on its maiden deployment, bound to prove that the Navy’s first hybrid-drive warship – half electric, half gas – can cut it in real-life scenarios.

The ship’s crew, and Navy brass, are already convinced. The Navy has decided to put the same power plant in the next big amphibious vessel it builds, the America (LHA-6), the first of a new ship class.

It will also retrofit up to 35 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers with a hybrid drive, starting as early as 2016 to support the launch of what the Secretary of the Navy is calling the “great green fleet.â€