Fuel consumption

[snake020]

Got in a discussion with someone who claimed the US Navy is consumer of half the nation's fuel, which made no sense at all given the fleet's current size. I easilly destroyed that claim simply by finding numbers that confirmed the Air Force uses the most fuel overall just in DoD, but it did make me curious on how much a conventionally powered carrier or other surface ship uses through a deployment compared to an air wing.

Anyone know?

 

[PropStop]

it does amaze me how much fuel I use on most flights. When i convert the pounds to gallons it really hits home. The P-3 is like a 1978 Chevy Suburban, with the three speed tranny and rear axel geared for towing, so i guess poor mileage should be expected.

 

[Hursel110]

I once worked out the fuel consumption for the destroyer I was on (a Spru-can, btw). During our most fuel efficient mode of operation we got about 75 gallons per mile.

Assuming you spent ~two months of the cruise tied up in various ports, and stayed in trail shaft mode for an entire deployment (obviously this would never happen, but I'm trying to come up with a low end estimate), you would burn about 2,160,000 gallons.

 

[Pugs]

make me curious on how much a conventionally powered carrier uses through a deployment compared to an air wing.

Well the conventionally powered carriers now use half what they did a month ago with the JFK gone

 

[BlackBearHockey]

I heard the Navy drinks the most coffee out of any organization in the US, a different kind of fuel I guess, but it's funny to think how much that would add up. Random, I know, but along the same lines of mass consumption...

 

[MasterBates]

The navy may have more aircraft than the USAF, but look how many of the USAF's are fuel pigs (transports, bombers, tankers, fighters) vs. relativley fuel sipping (Pounds Per Hour, not MPG) helos.

Heavy 60's (60B, 60F, 60R) get about 10 pounds per mile.. About 1.4 gal/Nautical mile. Converted to statue, its about .81 MPG

 

[mts4602]

Got in a discussion with someone who claimed the US Navy is consumer of half the nation's fuel, which made no sense at all given the fleet's current size. I easilly destroyed that claim simply by finding numbers that confirmed the Air Force uses the most fuel overall just in DoD, but it did make me curious on how much a conventionally powered carrier or other surface ship uses through a deployment compared to an air wing.

Anyone know?

From the few times I have ever seen "Jepardy" there was the question of which service (Army, Navy, Air Force) used the most fuel....I got it wrong

 

[Sarge]

The navy may have more aircraft than the USAF

The Air Force has over 6000 aircraft in service (4,273 USAF; 1,313 Air National Guard; and 400 Air Force Reserve). The Navy has just over 4000 including Reserve. Somebody told me that at one time the Air Force had more F-16s than the Navy had total aircraft, but I can't find any numbers that support that. I don't know what they had at their high point, but now only have around 1300 F-16C/D.

I still bet we burn more fuel than they do if you include our conventional ships.

 

[MasterBates]

Ah, I forgot ANG/AFR... My error.

 

[FLY_USMC]

I know with the new Super's having a higher max trap, as well as the new 3 wire carriers being able to support a higher max trap, but it still amazes me how much fuel the Navy/Marine Corps DUMPS rather than uses, just to get back aboard.

 

[kmac]

I know with the new Super's having a higher max trap, as well as the new 3 wire carriers being able to support a higher max trap, but it still amazes me how much fuel the Navy/Marine Corps DUMPS rather than uses, just to get back aboard.

And that's what pisses me off sometimes. I just had to pay the gas without reimbursement for a rental car (or gov't car depending on how you look at it) for the air show up in Pt Mugu. When going out to the ship, I can EASILY adjust my gross weight by 2,000-3,000lbs to get to max trap. Using the rough numbers, that's $900 wasted in only one mission. So they're nickel and diming me for about $40 and yet have hardly any problem for us burning cash when flying. I don't get it.

 

[MasterBates]

What kills me is when I was told "we don't have money for gas" when each Turkey was dumping what I could fly for 2-3 hours on just to get aboard.

 

[Tex_Hill]

The Air Force has over 6000 aircraft in service (4,273 USAF; 1,313 Air National Guard; and 400 Air Force Reserve). The Navy has just over 4000 including Reserve. Somebody told me that at one time the Air Force had more F-16s than the Navy had total aircraft, but I can't find any numbers that support that. I don't know what they had at their high point, but now only have around 1300 F-16C/D.

I still bet we burn more fuel than they do if you include our conventional ships.

I don't know what the high point is either, but the AF has taken possession of 2505 F-16's total.

 

[Brett327]

What kills me is when I was told "we don't have money for gas" when each Turkey was dumping what I could fly for 2-3 hours on just to get aboard.

Big picture here people, big picture. You can lodge that particular complaint just as soon as NAVAIR gets communal OPTAR.

Brett

 

[Sarge]

Dumping gas is part of doing business in the overhead stack. If everybody planned their fuel burn as to not have any "extra" fuel while waiting to trap, the first significant casualty delaying landing would quickly result in multiple aircraft in fuel extremis. Only way to prevent this would be to have an excessive number of tankers airborne. You can dump a lot of gas for the price of one of today's aircraft.