SAN DIEGO (AP) – The US Navy launched its largest alternative fuel test to date on Wednesday, pumping 20,000 gallons (75,700 liters) of algae-based fuel into a destroyer ship that will embark on a 20-hour trip along the California coast.

The success of the Paul H. Foster ship's overnight trip Wednesday from San Diego to Port Hueneme is vital to the Navy's plan to unveil next year a small carrier strike group of small ships, destroyers, cruisers, aircraft, submarines and a carrier run on alternative fuels, including nuclear power. By 2016, the Navy wants to deploy what it calls a ``Great Green Fleet'' of nuclear vessels, hybrid electric ships and other ships and aircraft powered by biofuels.

The Navy is investing more than $500 million in the budding biofuel industry with the hope that it will be able to supply enough alternative fuel so the maritime branch can cut its dependence on fossil fuel by 50 percent over the next decade, said Cmdr. James Goudreau, director of the Navy Energy Coordination Office.

The biofuel that went into the destroyer was a 50-50 blend of petroleum and a hydro-processed algal oil produced by San Francisco-based Solazyme, which has been changing the genetic makeup of algae to construct a new generation of fuels.

The Navy is working with dozens of companies that have been submitting a slew of alternative fuel samples made from everything from chicken parts and mustard seeds to microorganisms and municipal solid waste.

``We want to buy fuel made from something other than petroleum that will drop in and work seamlessly for our warfighters,'' said Goudreau, standing in front of the Foster as it was being fueled Wednesday at a San Diego Naval station under blue skies.

The military uses more than 90 percent of the energy consumed by the federal government. Alternative fuels burn cleaner than fossil fuels, require no drilling, and can be produced in the United States.