Another Layer of Nuance to the UFO Mystery: Baffling Otherworldly Encounters with Military Naval Vessels

Whereas many people might imagine a scene over a quiet country road, or possibly from the balcony of a high-rise apartment building in a metropolis-like city, or even from a moving aircraft, the fact is there are many sightings on record that occur over the seas, oceans, and other vast water networks of our planet. Although actual statistics differ, it is widely agreed that more than half of all UFO sightings occur over or near water. With this in mind, we might imagine that many of the ships and submarines, particularly military ones, would have encountered these otherworldly vehicles – and we would be right.

As usual, we will not have the time to explore every case; in fact, we only have time and space to scratch the surface of such encounters here, which could fill up entire volumes in their own right, and those are just the sightings from the modern UFO age. We will, though, explore some of the most interesting and detailed UFO encounters that have involved naval vessels in various stretches of water around the planet.

Without a doubt, one of the strangest and thought-provoking of these marine encounters was relayed in the book Military Encounters with Extraterrestrials: The Real War of the Worlds by Frank Joseph, and occurred in the late 1980s when the Cold War, albeit reduced in tensions, was still very much unfolding. According to the report, which came through an anonymous crew member of the US Navy submarine, the USS Memphis, the incident occurred ahead of a NASA space shuttle launch, with the submarine patrolling the waters around the launch site ahead of the mission.

On this particular night – October 24th going into October 25th, 1989 – the USS Memphis was around 150 miles off the coast of Florida, cruising at a depth of around 500 feet. While the mission had been completely textbook so far, on this particular evening, they were experiencing all manner of problems with their electronics. As the witness recalled, the crew quickly realized the “ship was malfunctioning…the tanks were blowing” and the “navigations ability and communication (were) totally lost!” Eventually, an order was given to bring the submarine to a stop so the crew could assess what was happening. However, moments later, the controls in the reactor began to malfunction, and orders were issued to shut it down, switch to diesel engines, and surface immediately.

As soon as the vessel broke the surface of the water, the witness made his way to his watch station. He looked out and could see that the night sky was now glowing “red like a neon sign” as heavy rain came down from above. Then, only moments after first looking out, he noticed a “large, inverted V-shaped” object moving on the port (left-hand) side of the submarine. The witness turned to the executive officer who was with him, who told him to remain at his post while he informed the captain. Several moments later, the captain arrived at the watch station.

By this point, using a laser range finder, they had determined that their vessel was around 600 feet from the nearest point of the strange craft, which was approximately 650 feet from their location. Moreover, they estimated that the furthest point of the object was around 3500 feet from them, suggesting that it was, in total, around half a mile wide.

From their vantage point on the watch tower, they could see that the object was circling them. As it did so, all of the electronics on the submarine suddenly began to “go crazy!” As the huge craft circled them, it cast a deep, red, neon glow on the water below, which itself seemed to “rise almost a foot” toward the object as it moved overhead. Then, without warning, the object came to a sudden stop. As it remained completely motionless and silent a short distance away, the sky around it shone a bright red color. Then, with equal suddenness, it “moved off at tremendous speed” and disappeared into the distance. As soon as it had done so, the submarine’s electronics returned to normal working order, except for their communications equipment, which appeared to be damaged beyond repair.

The captain ordered a complete systems check, following which, the vessel was switched back to reactor power and set back out on its scheduled patrol mission. A short time later, the main witness, as well as the executive officer and two petty officers who had also been present at the watch station, were asked to report to the captain in the wardroom. Once there, they were informed that they were the only witnesses onboard who had seen the object and that they were forbidden from speaking about it until he (the captain) had a chance to report it directly to the Commander of the Submarine Fleet. All accepted the orders, but several hours later, the events turned stranger, and potentially more ominous.

As soon as the USS Memphis reached port, all of the witnesses were escorted from the vessel and taken into “protective custody”. Around three hours later, an officer from the United States Air Force arrived and spoke to the main witness and the two petty officers. The officer informed them that what they had seen was, in fact, an “exploding weather satellite” and that the matter was closed. Needless to say, all three of them, at least inwardly, rejected such a notion. There were, though, further signs of an unseen hand at work behind the scenes in the weeks that followed. According to the witness, despite having served for four years, the entire crew of the USS Memphis was suddenly disbanded and all transferred to various assignments. Moreover, no explanation was ever given to the crew members for this sudden change, something that the witness offered, “almost never happens!”

The witness kept the incident to himself for several years after the encounter until a television documentary he watched prompted him to discreetly report what he had seen to UFO researchers. In a further twist, when researcher and writer Frank Joseph investigated the incident, he found that the official records of the USS Memphis for October 1989 stated only that the vessel was “underway for a Dependent’s Cruise!” Joseph wrote that “all other references to that cruise, including the events of the 24th and the 25th, have been deleted!” We should, perhaps, make of that what we will.

There are, though, several interesting points for us to consider, perhaps not least whether the nuclear capabilities of the submarine were of interest to the UFO, or at least its occupants, or whatever intelligence was behind it. We might also consider whether there was any kind of connection to the upcoming NASA space shuttle launch that the vessel was patrolling. One thing would appear to be certain: if the military went out of its way to wipe all details of the incident from the record, as well as the splitting up of the entire crew, there must be something quite momentous to cover up.

The USS Memphis incident is far from the only UFO encounter involving military vessels. Only three years earlier, at around 11 pm one evening in the summer of 1986 off the coast of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, a lookout on the USS Edenton witnessed an equally bizarre aerial anomaly. The witness was in his lookout position above the bridge, looking out on a clear night sky, when he suddenly noticed four red, glowing lights “appear out of nowhere” ahead of the ship. The lights were approximately 100 feet apart and formed a square formation in the night sky. At first, the witness thought he was seeing helicopters approaching, but then realized that the lights were much too large to belong to helicopters, with the witness elaborating that each of the lights was around the size of a small plane.

By now, the witness realized the events unfolding in front of him were completely out of the ordinary and, as such, called down to the bridge, stating there was a “possible UFO sighting!” To begin with, his claims were dismissed. However, when he repeated them with a deadly serious tone, those on the bridge realized something strange was indeed taking place. The next thing the witness realized, the two lower lights rushed toward the horizon “in a flash”, with the remaining two lights following a moment later, all remaining completely silent. Then, all four of the lights suddenly “shot up into outer space” and disappeared “within a split second!”

At this point, the witness rushed from his lookout station to the bridge. Upon arriving there, he could see several members of the crew looking out into the distance, a look of shock on each of their faces (the encounter, incidentally, was recorded in the ship’s log). The encounter, however, was far from over.

Around half an hour after the lights had disappeared into the night sky, the radiation detection system onboard USS Edenton began to “click”. Shortly after, the alarm system sounded, indicating increased levels of radiation. This continued for several minutes before the alarms ceased. When the data was analyzed, it was determined that the ship had “taken a hit of 385 roentgens” over a period of only 60 seconds, approximately the same time that the lights were within their immediate vicinity. At this point, the crew decided to wake and inform the captain. When he arrived at the bridge, though, not only was he dismissive of the account, but he was also critical of the crew for recording the events in the ship’s log. Moreover, he asserted that the dramatic increase in radiation was likely due to nothing more than faulty equipment. This suggestion was dismissed by the crew as the ship’s equipment was only serviced the previous day, and other equipment on the ship also detected an increase in radiation. Despite this, the captain insisted that the increase in radiation not be recorded. He then returned to his quarters.   

Without a doubt, one of the most thought-provoking UFO encounters involving a military vessel occurred at the start of the previous decade, within the waters of the Bermuda Triangle, no less. According to the account, the main witness, Jim Kopf, was serving in the communications department onboard the USS John F. Kennedy at around 8:30 pm one evening in 1971, which was on its way back to Norfolk, Virginia, from the Caribbean. He was printing out the fleet broadcasts on the night in question when he realized that they were “typing garbage!” He immediately suspected the machines were faulty and so placed a call to the Facilities Control department, who responded that “all communications were out!”

In the same room where Kopf was working was the Naval Communications Operations Network. When he glanced over at them, he could see that they, too, were having issues with their equipment. It was clear that something strange was unfolding – and when a voice stated there was “something hovering over the ship” that assertion was seemingly confirmed. As soon as the statement came over the radio, everyone in the room stopped what they were doing in unison. Then, the voice came over the radio once more. This time, much calmer than before, it stated, “It is God! It’s the end of the world!” The crew members looked at each other before deciding they should go to the flight deck to see what was taking place.

As soon as they stepped onto the deck of the ship, they could see a “large glowing sphere” hovering directly overhead, appearing to “pulsate” a strange yellow-orange color. Because there was nothing else in the night sky to compare it to, the crew was unable to accurately determine the size of the object or how far away it was. They all agreed, though, that it was completely silent, something which in itself was very strange. The main witness offered in his report that the object could have been 100 feet above the ship, which would have made it around 300 feet wide. It was as the crew was staring up at the glowing sphere when the alarm for “battle stations” sounded.

The witnesses immediately returned to the communications center, where they attempted to restart the equipment, which suddenly burst back into life 20 minutes later. None of the crew, however, were briefed or told any other information about the bizarre incident and were simply told to carry on as normal following the encounter.

Kopf later spoke to another crew member several hours later, a close friend who was a radar operator in the Combat Information Center. He stated to Kopf that during the incident, “all the radar screens were just glowing!” This suggested that whatever the object was, it was gigantic. Kopf also managed to speak to another close friend who worked on the bridge. They informed him that for the entire 20-minute episode, all of the compasses and navigational equipment stopped working. Kopf also learned from this friend that one of those on the bridge had to be sedated, as he was in such shock at the events taking place. Kopf, now intrigued and beyond curious about just what had happened that evening, spoke to as many people as he could on the crew over the days that followed, and he made some remarkable discoveries.

He learned, for example, that as well as the navigational and communications equipment malfunctions, it appeared that all of the ship’s electronics suddenly went out. Stranger still, orders had been given to scramble two of the on-board F-4 Phantom jets, but they would simply not start, meaning the planned intercept mission had to be abandoned.

Stranger and perhaps more ominous still, Kopf learned that several “men in trench coats” had discreetly visited the ship in the days following the encounter. They had, he learned, interviewed all of those who had witnessed the bizarre events. Kopf and the six people in the communications room, on the other hand, were not spoken to, suggesting to Kopf that their superiors were unaware that they had witnessed anything out of the ordinary. In a bizarre twist, despite there being around 5000 crew onboard the ship, as they had just completed a training exercise, the vast majority were below deck, meaning only a small handful realized the true strangeness of the events that evening. Several days later, when the USS John F Kennedy returned to port in Norfolk, the incident took a further interesting turn.  

It was standard procedure for the crew to be addressed by their superiors through the closed-circuit TV system, and this was very much the case after this tour. However, Kopf recalled that this address was quite different. Ultimately, for all of the praise the crew received, they were warned in no uncertain terms that any events that had taken place onboard the ship were “classified” and that they should “not be discussed with anyone without a need to know!” Kopf, like the other crew members, was clear about what the captain was referring to. Interestingly, this was, according to Kopf, the only official reference the captain made to the bizarre events.

Following their being dismissed, the crew went their separate ways while on leave, and Kopf, as strange as it might sound, quickly put the encounter out of his mind. Then, out of the blue, several years later and by pure chance, he watched the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and some kind of switch happened in his mind. He had seen the movie with a friend, the radar operator on the ship on the night of the encounter. It was as they were walking back to their respective cars that Kopf asked his friend what he recalled of the night of the sighting. To his surprise, his friend suddenly went pale and stated simply that he “never wanted to talk about it again!”

Once more, Kopf put the encounter out of his mind. By the early 2000s, with the rapid rollout of the Internet, however, he began reading more and more posts and articles about UFO sightings and, ultimately, he decided to report the encounter that had taken place in North Carolina in 1971. Just what was present over the USS John F Kennedy remains a complete mystery. We can only wait to see if any official documents or witness testimony brings further information.

As we might imagine, encounters with UFOs and naval vessels also take place during times of war, and that is very much the case in an incident between an apparent otherworldly vehicle and the USS Wisconsin during the first Gulf War. According to the account, on the evening of January 24th, 1991, not only did a strange object appear close to the destroyer, but it began attacking it. The report, which came courtesy of a leaked document detailing the encounter, stated that the object seemingly appeared out of nowhere and began descending toward the ship. As it did so, it emitted a “high-pitched” buzzing sound which increased in volume and caused significant discomfort for the crew. Moreover, this sudden “attack” was witnessed by crew members from the USS England and the USS O’Brien, as well as two British Royal Navy ships, the HMS Battleaxe and the HMS Jupiter.

This diving and buzzing of the ship continued for around 30 seconds before an order was issued to respond. At this point, all ships present turned their weapons towards this suddenly appearing futuristic craft. It was, though, a missile launched from the USS Wisconsin that struck and destroyed. Further, according to the report, the American military recovered the wreckage, and it was transferred to an unspecified location in the United States.

Decades before the conflicts in the Gulf region, there were many other similar encounters that unfolded during the Second World War. According to a September 1976 report from the International UFO Bureau, for example, in late January 1945, Louis Graci, along with four other crew members onboard the USS McCracken, reported observing a “round object” that was completely silent and had a “dull finish” to its exterior appear in front of the ship before disappearing under the water.

Only days later, in early February 1945, another encounter occurred off the coast of the Caroline Islands where the USS Wasp was sailing. On the day in question, the ship’s commander, Norman Stark, received a report of an “incoming radar contact” approaching the ship from an altitude of 30,000 feet and around 10 miles away. Stark, believing the object to be an enemy fighter, immediately ordered the scrambling of five Grumman F6F Hellcats to intercept the craft. However, despite closing in on it several times, the object proved to be much faster and eventually disappeared.

The following month, at around 1 pm one afternoon in mid-March 1945, the USS New York battleship found itself in the middle of bizarre events in the South Pacific. According to a report in the March 1985 edition of the MUFON Journal, on the day in question, several crew members suddenly noticed a strange “silvery and very shiny” object hovering ahead of them at an altitude of around 20,000 feet. The object remained motionless as if observing the naval vessel. After half an hour, the captain gave the order to open fire. Despite the gunners being on target, however, the shells simply failed to make contact, as if some kind of bizarre shield was around their target. Several moments later, the craft climbed up toward the sky and disappeared within seconds.

Although the exact date isn’t certain, in the final weeks of the Second World War, in the summer of 1945, a US Army transport ship, the USS Delarof, found itself in the middle of a bizarre encounter near the island of Atak while returning to Seattle. The waters were particularly rough on the night in question, yet several members of the crew spotted something large moving below their ship. Then, without warning, this bizarre craft shot out of the water and sped off directly upward into the sky.

One of those onboard was radio operator Robert Crawford, who heard the sudden commotion coming from his crewmates and turned his attention to where they were looking and pointing. When he did, he could clearly see the huge object quickly ascending above them, an object he described as being “dark and round” and easily visible in the setting sun. By this time, all of the gunners had taken their positions, awaiting the order to open fire should the object return. Although it did circle them twice at an altitude of 500 feet, the commander resisted giving the order to attack. After this second pass, the object headed off into the distance. Several moments later, several crew members reported seeing “three flashes of light” coming from the direction the object vanished. After docking in Seattle, no less than 14 of the crew members signed a written statement regarding what was seen.

Several weeks later, in the days following the bombing of Hiroshima, another bizarre incident was witnessed by several crew members onboard the USS Bradford. At 2 am on the night in question, with the vessel around 600 miles off the coast of Kyushu, Japan, several of the crew witnessed a “star-like object” move across the sky overhead. However, despite the visual confirmation, the object didn’t show on the ship’s radar. Those on deck continued to watch, noticing that the object seemed to change from a solid white color to a pale red. The object then appeared to slow and remain steady for several moments before it shot off into the distance with lightning speed. As it did so, it changed color yet again, this time to a blue color (this detail is interesting as several researchers have suggested that the color of these strange objects could very well be linked to their speed).

Although they didn’t occur during the war, the UFO sightings that were reported during Operation Mainbrace in the years immediately following the Second World War are certainly worth exploring here, especially as they occurred as the Cold War was beginning to take a grip on world events. As such, Operation Mainbrace was a NATO training exercise that had the involvement of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Denmark, Norway, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium, and the New Zealand military, that took place in the North Sea and North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Denmark and Norway in September 1952. As the exercise progressed, several unidentified objects were witnessed.

Official records state that Operation Mainbrace ran from September 14th to September 25th, 1952. However, UFO researcher and investigator, Richard Hall, suggests that the mission actually began the day previously, on September 13th, on which day, several crew members from the Danish destroyer, Willemoes, witnessed a bizarre aerial anomaly. On the evening in question, the Danish destroyer was near Bornholm Island, participating in maneuvers as part of the operation. It was during these maneuvers that Lieutenant Commander Schmidt Jensen, along with several other crew members, witnessed a glowing, blue, triangular-shaped object that “moved at high speed” overhead. Jenson later estimated that the curious craft was traveling around 1000 miles per hour, at the very least. Later that day, several other crew members had a similar sighting, reporting three objects that seemed to be traveling in a triangular formation, with each craft giving off a “white light exhaust!” These incidents would prove to be the first of several during the international military exercise.

Of all of the strange incidents that took place during Operation Mainbrace, the events on the afternoon of September 20th, 1952, are some of the most intriguing. That afternoon, multiple crewmembers of the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt witnessed a silver sphere-shaped object appear in the skies overhead, where it remained for a significant amount of time. To begin with, the crew thought they were looking up at nothing more than a weather balloon. Slowly, however, the realization that there were no planned weather balloon launches that day made them reassess just what they were seeing. Among the witnesses was a photographer, Wallace Litwin. He managed to snap several pictures of the object, although they remained out of the public domain for several decades.

Captain Ed Ruppelt, the project chief, stated in his report that the strange object was “plenty large enough to show up on a photo”, stating further that Litwin had captured the “superstructure of the carrier in each one and, judging from the size of the object”, it was determined that it was “moving rapidly!” Ruppelt elaborated that “although (the object) resembled a balloon in some ways, it was far from being identical!”

It was, though, the claims made in a letter written by Litwin and sent to researcher Ole Henningsen that perhaps contained the most explosive revelations, and perhaps provided a reason for the appearance of the strange objects. In the letter, Litwin stated that he and several other journalists assigned to cover the mission discovered that the USS Roosevelt was “carrying an atom bomb in a small room far below the decks!” Litwin continued that although the (US) Navy denied the claims, he had managed to ply “some of the navy people with charm, money, and booze” and eventually they all but confirmed the charge. They also expressed concern that the presence of this atomic bomb “might relate to the white sphere!”

Whether or not an atomic bomb was present on the USS Roosevelt or not is perhaps open to debate, although it is certainly not at all beyond the realms of possibility. What is known is that there have been a number of UFO reports around nuclear facilities and weapons plants, as well as vessels at sea carrying such weapons, and even (as we explored in our first account) submarines that are nuclear-powered. Whatever the reason, it was clear to Captain Ruppelt that strange incidents were beginning to plague the operation, one of which had unfolded the present just off the coast of the United Kingdom.

According to a relaying of the account in the book A Covert Agenda: The British Government’s UFO Top Secrets Exposed by Nick Redfern, at around 11 am on the morning of September 19th, a British Meteor jet was making its way to base at RAF Topcliffe in Yorkshire, England. As the jet was coming into land, however, Lieutenant John Kilburn, along with several other ground personnel, saw a large “silvery object” close to the aircraft that appeared to “sway – like a pendulum!” In his report, Kilburn stated that the object was at an approximate altitude of anywhere between 10,000 to 20,000 feet, and he also noted that it was “silver in color, and circular in shape!”

At this point, the jet abandoned its landing approach and circled back around. When it did this, the object stopped also and hovered in place, rotating on its axis. After several moments, it suddenly “accelerated at tremendous speed” and disappeared into the distance. Kilburn finished his report by stating that “the movements of the object were not identifiable with anything I have seen in the air, and the rate of acceleration was unbelievable!”

As Redfern writes in A Covert Agenda, the “Air Ministry was sufficiently concerned by the Topcliffe incident to forward a one-page report to the Commander-in-Chief Air/East Atlantic”, who were a subdivision of NATO. The sightings around Operation Mainbrace, though, continued. At around 7:30 pm on September 20th – later on the same day as the USS Roosevelt sighting – three officers from the Danish Air Force reported seeing a metallic, silver disc move across the sky over Karup Field in Denmark. Less than 24 hours later, on September 21st, three British fighter jets pursued a “shiny sphere” over the North Sea until it finally outpaced them for good and disappeared. A week later, on the evening of September 27th going into September 28th, multiple reports of strange glowing objects were reported over Denmark, Sweden, and Western Germany, with at least one report stating that smaller objects were seen exiting a much larger one.

Whatever was taking place in and around Operation Mainbrace, it would appear to be something very significant. Once more, if we turn our attention to the research of Nick Redfern, he writes of the testimony of one-time RAF serviceman, William Maguire. He recalled that “everything was a complete flap” during the operation, elaborating that such operations are normally “ordered, regular, and set out”, but this time, it was clear to all involved that the situation was “plainly out of control” and that there were “mechanics flying all over the place!”

Further, according to Maguire, those at the top of the operation were tracking a “huge UFO” that was moving across the English Channel at an extremely high altitude, and it was during this tracking operation that “panic” began to set in among the crew, with some high-ranking officers even placing the blame on mechanics who they stated had “not calibrated the instruments properly” and had not “interpreted the readings correctly!”

Just what was taking place during Operation Mainbrace very much remains largely a mystery. Redfern wrote that “it would appear there are many more papers concerning the Mainbrace sightings which the (UK) government has deemed unreleasable!” Redfern also highlighted a newspaper article in the Sunday Dispatch in December 1952 that stated all six pilots who had encountered the UFO over the North Sea had been interviewed extensively by the intelligence services. No records of those interviews have ever been released, in spite of the fact that they should have been subject to the 30-year rule, where all documents are released into the public domain after this time.

It is also worth examining the claims of a serviceman on the USS Roosevelt during Operation Mainbrace, Chet Grusinksy, who claimed that he had seen a huge, glowing, cigar-shaped object during the operation. Moreover, he insisted that he could see a row of windows along the side of the object, through which he could see “figures” inside the craft, figures that he stated were “not human beings!” He continued that the object remained alongside the ship for several moments – so close, he stated, that he could “feel the heat” of it on his skin. Then, without warning, it took off into the distance and vanished within seconds.

Of even further interest, Grusinsky stated that this extraterrestrial interest in the USS Roosevelt seemingly continued once it was stationed in Mayport, Florida, with an apparent increase in UFO sightings in the area during this time. Moreover, and of further interest, he shared concerns that the vessel regularly carried atomic weapons.

It is further interesting to note, at least according to the research of Nick Redfern, that the events surrounding Operation Mainbrace, if only privately, resulted in the UK government and militaries keeping much closer tabs on UFO encounters over the coming years and decades. It is probably safe to assume that there is much more information surrounding the events in the North Atlantic and North Sea during September 1952 still to enter the public arena.

While almost all of the encounters we have examined so far have been incidents involving the United States Navy, there are many others from around the planet that are equally as intriguing and baffling. One of those comes from the research files of Bill Chalker and featured a Chilean Navy vessel off the coast of Chile. According to the account, the vessel had left Talcahuano Port a little after midnight on October 24th, 1969. Around 45 minutes later, the radar officer alerted the crew to a ”long-range flying object” that had suddenly appeared on his screen.  The object was moving with blistering speed, and within seconds, it was only 400 miles from their location. In only a minute, it was within 200 miles of the ship, leading the radar officer to calculate that, if the readings were correct, the object was moving at around 12,700 miles per hour.

The Commander was notified of the quickly approaching object and ordered him to keep monitoring this aerial anomaly. By 12:47 am, the object was only 12 miles from their position. Then, the radar officer looked on in shock as the object broke up into six smaller objects, each seemingly under its own power and control. Moments later, the individual objects were visible to the naked eye to those on deck. Moments later, the Commander arrived on the bridge. From the vantage point, they could see one large object, and five smaller objects trailing behind it, all heading in their direction, and all traveling at fantastic speed.

The main witness later recalled that the larger object appeared “like a big box with semicircles in the side” that had the appearance of having been “scooped out!”. He also estimated that the object was likely twice the size of their ship, with a metallic exterior that glowed brightly. By comparison, the five smaller objects, which were egg-shaped, were only around six feet wide and eight feet tall and had some kind of blue-colored exterior.

As those present continued to watch, the larger object continued on its approach. The smaller objects, though, split up, with three going to the port side and two going to the starboard side. By the time the object was only several hundred yards away from them, the crew could hear a low humming sound. Then, without warning, the ship’s power suddenly went dead. At that moment, the witness recalled the commander asking out loud, “What the hell is that?”

As the object passed over them, the lights lit up the destroyer, as well as the water around it. As it passed overhead, the witnesses could see that there were several red lights on the underside that appeared to be moving back and forth. They could also see several “corn-cob-looking structures” on the side of the object that had some kind of “green pulsating light” in them that the witness recalled, “went right through your head!”

Several moments after the object had passed completely over the destroyer, the power came back on, and the equipment surged back to life. As the object headed off into the distance, the five smaller objects came back together and began trailing the larger object once more. By the time they disappeared out of sight, the witness estimated they were approximately two miles from their position. One particularly bizarre, if intriguing, detail is that the witness recalled strange pieces of “floating metallic paper” falling from the sky around the ship moments after the object had disappeared.

In total, the encounter had lasted no longer than eight minutes, and eight people had witnessed the event – five visually, and three on the radar screens. However, in an all too familiar detail, the commander instructed his men to “remain silent” about what they had seen, and not to talk to anyone else about it. Despite this order, the main witness recalled that a second-class officer on the ship had already made several entries of the incident into the logbook. In a suspicious twist, though, the following morning, when the witness went to look at the logbook, the entries were no longer there – as if the pages had been physically removed. Interestingly, when he looked closely at the open page, because the officer in question had injured his writing hand, he had to use his non-writing hand, and, as such, had to press down much harder on the page, so much so that he had left an indentation of his words on the page the witness was now looking at. Even more ominous, both his own and the second-class officer’s handwriting had been forged to make false entries into the log.

By 6:45 am that morning, the ship arrived at Valparaiso Port, where the witness and the other seven witnesses were asked to report to the commander. However, rather than just speaking with the commander and perhaps his superiors, the group was informed that a mysterious group of individuals wished to speak with them. This curious group was made up of two Chilean Navy officers, and four American men in civilian clothes (all of whom, incidentally, were fluent in Spanish). According to what little the eight witnesses were told of these American men, they were “naval attaches with the United States Embassy!”

Ultimately, the witnesses were transported to a nearby storage facility where they were separated and interviewed about what they had seen the previous evening. Despite what each of them said, all of them would later find out that they were told in no uncertain terms, “No, you didn’t see that! You didn’t see anything! You know nothing!”

The main witness eventually managed to speak to the apparent head of the unit sent to interrogate them and ask them if they were under arrest. In response to this, he was told no, but that they were “under orders” and that “these people just want to talk to you (and) put you on the right track!”

The witness later stated that he had the impression before he even spoke to the unit that they knew exactly what had taken place the previous evening. Moreover, it was equally evident that their only objective was to suppress the encounter and make sure that they and the other witnesses didn’t speak about it.  The question went on – on and off – for around 48 hours before they were finally released. During this time, the witness stated to one of the men that he would be complaining about their treatment following his release, to which he was told bluntly and seriously that to do so would “be the end of him!”

Ultimately, after being forcibly kept awake for the duration of their interrogations, the witnesses relented and signed official orders to maintain secrecy over the incident. Following this, the witnesses were taken to a military medical facility before being transferred to an entirely different unit and duty. The main witness didn’t see any of the other witnesses again.

Whatever did happen that night in October 1969 off the Chilean coasts remains a complete mystery. However, the measures taken by the authorities – with the oversight of the mystery American Embassy members – would suggest that the event was of some kind of importance or another. Perhaps it was the location of the sighting more than the sighting itself. We know, for example, that South America as a whole has more than its fair share of UFO sightings, and the same goes for the waters that surround the continent, with many researchers even suggesting that underwater bases exist in various locations off the South American coastlines. Moreover, the south of the continent is close to Antarctica, a location that is a mysterious and curious place in its own right.

The fact is, this incident, like the other ones we have explored here, is just a handful of UFO encounters involving military naval vessels – and these come from a handful (relatively speaking) of reports that are known about. Given the often secretive nature of the world’s navies, we can perhaps safely assume that there will be many more incidents and encounters that are not known about by the vast majority of the public, including almost all in the UFO community. Why these encounters happen – and continue to happen – is as much a mystery as what UFOs are and what intelligence lies behind them. Perhaps as our space-based technology increases and we peer into the depths of the oceans from a satellite somewhere in the orbit of the planet, we might discover these long-rumored underwater bases, and so move closer to at least part of the truth of the UFO mystery.