A 1960's UFO Incident On The U.S.S. Edson DD946

This is a second hand recap of a first hand account from a family member and his UFO encounter aboard The U.S.S. Edson DD946 a Forrest Sherman Class Destroyer of the United States Navy. The Edson was docked from 1989 to 2004 at the U.S.S. Intrepid Museum in New York City for display. Some of you might have been on board there.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/6ae31fbae42a.jpg[/atsimg]

I think the story has some significance due to the history of the U.S.S. Edson. The destroyer was in The Gulf of Tonkin in August of 1964 during The Gulf of Tonkin Incident and possibly fired some of the first shots of the escalation of American involvement in The Viet Nam War with The Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution. The Edson provided fire support for aircraft carriers that made the first bombing runs. The ship was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for exceptionally meritorious service in support of operations in the Gulf of Tonkin during the period 2 - 5 August 1964.

Here is a good video account of the Gulf Of Tonkin Incident and President Johnsons Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution. The resolution was the first time a U.S. president used executive power to make war in the absence of a congressional declaration of war.

What Really Happened At The Gulf Of Tonkin

The family member involved was a fire control technician and was in charge of the ship fire control systems computers that track targets for the ship during combat. In turn aiming the guns from the radar data automatically.

There is no trace of evidence of this UFO encounter due to it being logged in the ships rough log (handwritten) but not recorded in the smooth log. So no F.O.I.A. documents are available. Sorry the story will have to do. It was witnessed by over 200 people including a trained lookout with a night vision device according to this witness.

It happened in the summer of 1962 or 1963, his memory is a bit fuzzy on the exact date and year. The Edson was sailing about 100 miles off the coast of California. Most of the enlisted men were watching a movie in the mess decks. Someone came in and said they should go out on deck because something was putting on an aerial show.

When they got on deck a light was in the sky that was moving at speeds and doing maneuvers that no aircraft is capable of. He stated that the craft would do 90 degree turns at hundreds of miles an hour. It would go straight up until almost out of sight and then dive at incredible speeds until they thought it would hit the water only to ascend again before hitting. In doing so stopping from a dive at hundreds of miles per hour and going straight up again. To the best of my memory hearing the story over the years, he said it was a cigar shaped craft and very luminescent.

He stated they could lock onto the ‘bogey’ with their gear, but would lose it during turns and a pass over. The equipment was capable of tracking any military aircraft they were aware of but could not track this. It was metallic or it would not have appeared on the radar at that range. He said they clocked it at speeds way beyond any known military aircraft's capabilities at that time or now.

They visually watched and tracked it on the AN/SPG-53 Gunfire Control Radar and the Mark 68 Gunfire Control System for at least 30 minutes before it shot straight up and disappeared.

So that's all he told me, but with so many witnesses perhaps some of you know someone that was on board that night and could add to this.

edit: typos

[edit on 14-3-2010 by timewalker]

reply to post by timewalker


G'day timewalker

Thank you for your very interesting report.

I have some questions.....

How well do you know this person?

How did this affect this person?

Was this person told not to say anything about this?

Could this person contact other crew from the ship who would verify the report?

How extensively have you researched, to ascertain if this has been reported by someone else?

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

reply to post by Maybe...maybe not



Maybe...maybe not, thanks for reading. I will answer the best that I can.

How well do you know this person?

I know this person very well and believe everything he has said about it. I have heard the story over and over again throughout my life. That's his story and he has stuck with it.

How did this affect this person?

I am not sure how it affected him. I do not think in a negative way what so ever.

Was this person told not to say anything about this?

As far as I know he was not told to withhold this info, I told him I was going to create this thread about it and he did not have a problem with it. I think if what he said is true about 200 people witnessing this event that it would be impossible to contain.

Could this person contact other crew from the ship who would verify the report?

I asked him the same question about other crew members. He said he was possibly going to be in contact with other crew members and would ask about any corroborators. Hopefully he will carry a recording device and let me transcribe.

How extensively have you researched, to ascertain if this has been reported by someone else?

I researched only on the web and could not find anything out there about this particular event. I was a little surprised that nothing turned up, but it did not affect my belief of what he says as the truth.

[edit on 14-3-2010 by timewalker]

Disclaimer:

Wanted to add that the teller of the story did tell me that he did not personally see the log but other crew members told him that the handwritten page was physically removed from the log. This crew member told him he saw evidence of the missing page.

To alter a log is a criminal offense the captain would not have done it without orders from higher up. I just wanted to make it clear that the witness was passing along a second hand information of a sensitive detail and in no way had anything to do with the alleged alteration or seeing evidence of it himself.

Originally posted by timewalker
To alter a log is a criminal offense the captain would not have done it without orders from higher up.

Timewalker, great thread.

There may be more info on the case in this thread (all 34 pages of it) but I don't remember seeing it - there are a lot of very similar reports though.

As for orders not to discuss (and the removal of log books) after Naval UFO/USO incidents - apparently its not that uncommon:

Brand New Log Books / Do not Discuss:

Feb 1963 Royal Navy North Atlantic Fleet:

After Tom witnessed the senior officer enter the UFO observations in the radar log book, their shift ended. Radar room personnel on the early morning watch ate breakfast and then turned in. Probably sometime between 1200 and 1300, Tom said he was awakened and ordered to report to the ward room, along with the five radar and sonar operators on his shift that morning.
The senior officer proceeded to go over the events of that morning, asking questions about the radar-sonar observations.He told the six men that their conversations were being taped and explained that until more was known about the unknown target, they were to remain silent about what they had seen. "Gentlemen," the officer said, "we will remember that we have all signed the Official Secrets Act (or words to that effect)." Although there were no threats, the implication was clear that to divulge anything to anyone concerning the tracking of the UFO would be considered a breach of security.
I asked Tom if the meeting might have been part of a general order carried out on other ships in the fleet as well in connection with the UFO incident. He responded that he didn't know if it was or not.
The witness recollected that he was in the ward room about 10 minutes. He said he never heard anything further about the unknown target.
When Preston came on duty once again at 2400 hours, he said he was surprised to discover that a "spanking new book" had replaced the radar log used the previous morning.

----

USS Reeves:

All of a sudden I lost Sonar Contact like it was never there, but CIC still had it at last bearing with an abrupt positive altitude change. The chatter was look at the size of that thing. I went outside through the sonar door on the Port Side and visually saw a large moonlike shape that flew upward over the ship at a 60 degree angle and disappeared into the sky in seconds. I heard no noise from the object when it went over us. I saw a full moon that night on the other side of the ship, but it remained fairly constant give or take a few ship rolls.

When we pulled into port a few weeks later, all records in the Bridge, CIC, and Sonar logs about that time were torn out. Whoever tore them out made one error, the pen imprint on the next page was still there. No one spoke of the incident again

----

USS Reclaimer:

The F-14 went to full afterburner right off the deck, pulling a rooster-tail7 behind it. It rattled the ship severely as it went by. This USO thing pulled easily ahead of the jet, crossed the horizon in seconds while underwater... no visible wake. It just... I mean this thing was FAST. Well, we just stood there. Wow, you know... what do ya say. We speculated about what it was. Guam told us it was a classified matter not to be reported or discussed.

----

Carrier USS Kearsarge:

The cameraman was able to get some photos, not sure how many, before they all took off almost straight up and out of sight.
The cameraman turned the film into to his superior officer and was told to not ever mention it. My dad said he and his friend were asked about the incident by their NCO and also told not to ever talk about it.

----

Sonar operator Account -British Destroyer Warship:

One of Sanderson's sources stated that no less than 13 craft recorded in their logs that their sonars had tracked this object. Allegedly, the unknown target continued to be tracked for four days as it maneuvered down to depths of 27,000 feet! (This must have been in the vicinity of the Atlantic's deepest point -- 28,374 feet below sea level -- in the Puerto Rico Trench.)
If the above story is true, nothing of known earthly origin can travel underwater at such speeds or maneuver at such depths. The fastest nuclear subs can attain 45 knots (52 miles per hour) and dive to around 3,000 feet. The bathyscaphe Trieste, with a specially constructed pressure-resistant hull, descended to a record 35,820 feet in 1960. However, it was incapable of maneuvering about.
It is unfortunate that more than 21 years elapsed before the Preston case reached the attention of a UFO investigator. We have here yet another example of government UFO secrecy at work--this time a foreign nation, Great Britain. Largely due to his apprehension over potential repercussions if he revealed his experience,Tom felt compelled to keep his knowledge of the event to himself. Since it hadn't occurred to him at the time that the radar log notes would be removed,he had only his memory to rely upon during our interviews.

----

USS John F. Kennedy

So we exited the Communications Center and went to the catwalk on the port side of the ship on the edge of the flight deck and we observed a large glowing sphere over the ship. It was hard to decide what size this thing was because there was no perspective. It was late in the evening. The sun had gone down, it was twilight, but it looked huge…

After that, I talked to a few shipmate friends that I had on the ship. One in particular worked in the radar department and he was on watch during the incident. He told me that all the radar screens were glowing- and then nothing. They couldn’t detect anything on radar. We stayed up most of the night talking about it.

We heard that the compasses were not working on the bridge and that the radar navigational system had gone offline…

A few days later the Commanding Officer and the Executive Officer came on the closed circuit television system that we had on board. It was the only way that they could address the crew of 5,000. He [the Commanding Officer] looked at the camera - and I will never forget this - and he said, "I would like to remind the crew that certain events that take place on board a major naval combative vessel are considered classified and should not be discussed with anyone without a need to know." And that was all he said.

----

USS Edenton

During one of my scans of the night sky, out of know where, four red circular lights appeared. The lights where hundreds of yards apart from each other and formed a square.
After relaying the contact information a second time, the four lights, in a flash, darted towards the horizon amazingly fast. The lower two lights in the square went first, with the top two lights following directly behind them in a curved swooshing motion and there was no sound.
Next, after a half hour had passed since the sighting, the radiation detection system (gamma roentgen meter) on the bridge started making a loud clicking sound. At first, no one seemed to know what was making this sound then a very loud bell went off notifying us as to what was going on, we were being radiated.
The captain stated not to log the instance concerning the radiation exposure and left the bridge. During the rest of my watch duty that night, no officer or enlisted person spoke of what happened, and also acted liked nothing happened.

----

Submarine repair ship 'The Volga' ,October 7, 1977.


"Were such reports made public?"

Azhazha shook his head no. "At the time, naturally, they were classified top secret. Now we have a more open attitude in this country. We are able to talk about such things. On a few rare occasions I did publish some UFO information, but I paid for it under Leonid Brezhnev.The official reaction was very harsh, very negative. My career suffered as a result, and the directorship of a scientific group was taken away from me."

----

Captain of Navy R5D aircraft,February 8,1951:

Crew members and passengers witnessed UFO emerging from the Atlantic ocean:

When we landed at Argentia (Newfoundland), we were met by intelligence officers. The types of questions they asked us were like Henry Ford asking about the Model T.
You got the feeling that they were putting words in your mouth.
It was obvious that there had been many sightings in the same area, and most of the observers did not let the cat out of the bag openly. When we arrived in the United States, we had to make a full report to Navy Intelligence..
I found out a few months later that Gander radar did track the object in excess of 1800 mph".

---

USS Waldron,1968-Near Puerto Rico:

They were tracking two bright lights, that didn't answer up to IFF – they weren't enemy, friend, foe or commercial aircraft. And were flying at speeds in excess of 400 knots and making turns at right angles. Nothing we knew of could do this but they did.

We were on an operation called Racer Run near Puerto Rico. Ship officials supposedly logged a report to Washington but we never heard anymore about it.

I've told several people about this and many acted as if I had 3 heads, but I have witnesses and evidence: there were about 20 in the 2 bridge watch sections, the combat watch sections (CIC), the ships log and the report sent to Washington.

Cheers.

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

reply to post by timewalker


G'day timewalker

Thanks for your detailed reply.

I also see Karl 12 has provided some areas of info to investigate.....he is prodigious!

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

[edit on 14-3-2010 by Maybe...maybe not]

reply to post by karl 12

Thanks karl 12 for the info. I will skim through the thread you mentioned, a long one indeed.

I am glad you posted other accounts of this before. Like I said, he did not have a problem with me posting the account, so i can only assume that there was not any do not discuss orders. I wanted to send off for F.O.I.A. records, but was told it was no use because of the for-mentioned.

Thanks for the detailed information.


[edit on 14-3-2010 by timewalker]

reply to post by timewalker

Thank you for a fascinating and well-written post, OP. S&F!

I can appreciate the problem with recalling what year this sighting may have occurred. I have trouble with events only 30-odd years ago within my adult life. So, as it might be helpful if your family member could recall the actual year, I checked for info on the USS Edson DD946 Association website and found the following in the "history" section:

Returning to Long Beach on 10 February 1962, EDSON soon resumed a normal EASTPAC destroyer schedule of operations until November 1962 at which time she entered the U.S. Naval Shipyard, Long Beach for regular overhaul. This period lasted until February 1963. Upon leaving the shipyard, EDSON proceeded to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii where she exercised in underway training. During the beginning of the training cycle on 17 March 1963, CDR J. J. HERRICK relieved CDR CARPENTER as Commanding Officer. Upon returning to Long Beach, EDSON became a unit of Destroyer Squadron 13.

On 8 June 1963, EDSON departed Long Beach for the first leg of a six-week cruise to Seattle, Washington and Alaska. She arrived in Seattle and spent two weeks conducting sonar trials in Carr Inlet and visiting the city. After a very warm farewell, EDSON departed the Pacific Northwest bound for Alaska. Arriving in Hanes, Alaska on 27 June 1963, EDSON was just in time to take part in the very colorful Strawberry Festiva1. She visited Skagway where the crew participated in a train trip to the famous Yukon Trail of 1898. From Skagway, EDSON proceeded to Juneau where she spent the 4th of July. Edson's last port of call was in Ketchikan before returning to Long Beach in August. In October EDSON embarked one hundred thirty relatives and guests of crewmembers for a dependents cruise off the southern California coast.

That last part about taking 150 relatives and guests for a dependents cruise could be a useful memory-jogger. Your family member would likely recall it, and it would help to ascertain if the UFO incident occurred in the summer of that year (1963) or not. And the trip to Skagway at the start of that summer would be another help, maybe.

I don't know if your family member is aware of the Edson's website but if not then he might be glad to take a look at it. Good way to make contact with some old shipmates.

EDIT to add: if your family member could recall who was CO at the time then that would set the year, because CDR Herrick relieved CDR Carpenter as the Edson's CO on 17 March, 1963.

Best regards,

Mike


[edit on 15/3/10 by JustMike]

reply to post by timewalker


Timewalker, thanks for the reply and yes the USO thread may take a few days but its certainly a very interesting read (save it for a rainy day).

Theres a good documentary below about strange UFO activity off the California coastline - I don't know the exact whereabouts of the U.S.S. Edson but there's an area called the Santa Catalina Channel which has had an almost unprecedented number of UFO/USO sightings over the years.

See 3:10

The Santa Catalina Channel separates mainland California from the island of Catalina, this particular stretch of water is as deep as Mount Everest is high and UFO’s/USO’s have been seen both entering the water and emerging from its murky depths.

Thread

Cheers.

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

reply to post by JustMike

Thanks for posting JustMike.

I am leaning towards the fall of 63', after the family cruise. He said it was already dark at about 8:00 or so off the coast of Cali. I sent him the link to the history page and am awaiting a reply to see if it jogs the memory.

Wanted to add that I talked to him last night and he said that there were several other destroyers and a couple of aircraft carriers in operations that night. They never traveled alone.

He said that probably every ship in the operations that night observed the UFO. Possibly a thousand or more witnesses between all the ships. 200 - 300 alone on his. The Edson was part of Destroyer Division 231 (DESDIV 231).

This could be a long research project.

Edit: out the U.S.S. Enterprise maybe being there. It did not join the Pacific fleet until 1965.

[edit on 16-3-2010 by timewalker]

reply to post by timewalker


---
Great Report Timewalker,

Thought I may have come accross the story beofre but possibly not.

Here are some other fascinating reports from sailors from the 1940s through early 2000s about some their UFO run-ins while onboard. Seems the Carrier FDR had the most a more direct USO interference. It was later after reading all of them (all found old warship/ufo reports) that I realized the Carrier FDR was the only boat to carry nuclear war heads during it's commisioned activities.

USO/Warships: Link: www.waterufo.net...

Decoy

Correction. Not DesDiv 231

I just got an email from him stating the Edson was part of Destroyer Squadron 13 (DesRon 13) The Black Cat Squadron. I cant seem to locate the ships in the squadron on the web.

Very interesting fact. He stated they always traveled with The U.S.S. Maddox DD-731 and The U.S.S. Turner Joy DD-951. Both of these vessels were directly involved with The Gulf of Tonkin Incident. I had my suspicions that they did travel together, due to the Edson being there and receiving honors for special operations August 2 - 5 1964.

He is trying to locate a cruise book, hoping to tell me more vessels that were in the squadron.

reply to post by Decoy

Thanks for the post Decoy. Interesting enough, I have ran across the page you linked in trying to research this thread.

I am glad you enjoyed it. Thanks

reply to post by karl 12
I remember seeing that show on History Channel last year I do believe.

I am not sure which side the Santa Catalina Channel is , east or west of Santa Catalina Island, but the island is only 22 miles off the coast from Los Angeles. He just remembers 100 miles off the coast of California somewhere. Could have been anywhere.