Blue Book UFO Reports at Sea by Ships - Analysis of the Blue Book Ship Database by Antonio F Rullán (2002).pdf

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Blue Book UFO Reports at Sea by Ships
Analysis of the Blue Book Ship Database
A.F. Rullán
December 10, 2002
Martinez, CA
Copyright
2002 Antonio F. Rullán
All Rights Reserved
1
1
2
INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE OF STUDY .......................................................................... 4
BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF UFO REPORTS BY SHIPS AT SEA................................. 5
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
O
LDEST
S
OURCE OF
M
ARINE
UFO R
EPORTS
................................................................................... 5
C
ONTINENTAL
D
EFENSE AND THE
US N
AVY
R
OLE
.......................................................................... 6
JANAP-146 I
NSTRUCTIONS AND ITS
I
MPACT ON
S
HIPS AT
S
EA
........................................................ 8
N
AVY
I
NSTRUCTIONS ON
UFO R
EPORTING
.................................................................................... 10
US C
OAST
G
UARD
– O
CEAN
S
TATIONS
.......................................................................................... 11
S
UMMARY OF
H
ISTORY
.................................................................................................................. 12
3
4
METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................. 14
SUMMARY OF DATABASE ............................................................................................................ 17
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
N
UMBER OF
R
EPORTS
.................................................................................................................... 17
B
LUE
B
OOK
E
XPLANATIONS FOR
UFO R
EPORTS
........................................................................... 19
D
ESCRIPTION OF
UFO
S
R
EPORTED
................................................................................................ 21
A
GENCY
W
HO
R
EPORTED
UFO
S TO
B
LUE
B
OOK
.......................................................................... 26
Q
UALITY OF THE
B
LUE
B
OOK
R
EPORTS
......................................................................................... 28
UFO R
EPORTING
I
NSTRUCTIONS
U
SED BY
A
GENCIES
.................................................................... 31
5
INTERESTING CASES ..................................................................................................................... 35
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6
5.7
5.8
5.9
5.10
5.11
5.12
5.13
MV M
ARCALA
- A
UGUST
4, 1950 .................................................................................................. 35
SS D
OCTEUR
A
NGIER
- A
UGUST
12, 1954...................................................................................... 36
US CTG 45.2 – A
PRIL
7, 1955 ....................................................................................................... 36
SS D
ANFJORD
– J
ANUARY
21, 1956............................................................................................... 38
SS S
EBAGO
– N
OVEMBER
5, 1957 ................................................................................................. 39
MV C
OOLSINGEL
– O
CTOBER
19, 1958 ......................................................................................... 39
SS C
ITY OF
A
LMACO
– N
OVEMBER
8, 1959................................................................................... 40
ORV W
HISKEY
– J
UNE
25, 1960.................................................................................................... 41
SS S
ANTA
A
NA
& USS G
EIGER
- S
EPTEMBER
16, 1960 ................................................................. 41
SS P
RESIDENT
V
AN
B
UREN
– J
ANUARY
15, 1962 .......................................................................... 42
SS N
ORMA
C. P
ENN
– J
UNE
6, 1964 .............................................................................................. 43
USS G
YATT
– N
OVEMBER
20, 1964 .............................................................................................. 43
SS M
ORGANTOWN
V
ICTORY
– J
ANUARY
11, 1966 ........................................................................ 45
6
INSIGHTS AND LESSONS LEARNED........................................................................................... 46
6.1
I
NCONSISTENCY IN THE
I
MPLEMENTATION OF
OPNAV
AND
MERINT I
NSTRUCTIONS
.................. 46
6.2 M
AJORITY OF
N
AVY
S
HIPS REPORTING
UFO
S WERE PART OF
P
ACIFIC
B
ARRIER
F
LEET
....................... 46
6.3 M
AJORITY OF
USCG S
HIPS REPORTING
UFO
S WERE PART OF THE
O
CEAN
S
TATION
S
YSTEM
.............. 49
6.4
M
ANY
S
HIPS REPORTED
S
ATELLITES AS
UFO
S
.............................................................................. 50
6.5
MERINT
AND
OPNAV
SYSTEM DID WORK WHEN KEY SIGNALS WERE SENT
................................. 51
6.6
M
AJORITY OF
D
ATA
R
ECEIVED WAS
P
OOR
Q
UALITY
..................................................................... 52
7
8
APPENDIX.......................................................................................................................................... 53
SOURCES AND NOTES.................................................................................................................... 54
2
Acknowledgements
I could not have conducted this study without the help of several colleagues.
Michael Hall and Loren Gross provided to me copies of all the Blue Book Microfilm
Rolls. Michael provided the first 40 rolls and Loren provided all the rest. Access to these
microfilms was critical since all the raw data was located therein. I also thank Wayne
Mattson, Rebecca Minshall, and Jan Aldrich for their help. Wayne provided advice on
how to analyze the Navy radar photographs of one of the cases studied. Rebecca proof
read the paper and provided editorial feedback. Jan reviewed the paper and provided
feedback. All errors or faulty logic in this paper are my own.
3
1
Introduction and Objective of Study
The objective of this study was to better understand the Project Blue Book
1
UFO report
database from ships at sea. The study focused on UFO reports that were submitted by
ships in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to the USAF Project Blue Book. Ships
submitting reports to Blue Book included Navy, US Coast Guard and Commercial
Vessels. Some of the questions that this study wanted to answer were:
1. What was the mechanism used to report UFO sightings to Blue Book by the US Navy
ships?
2. What was the most common reporting mechanism used by commercial shipping and
by the US Coast Guard?
3. How many US Navy ships reported UFO sightings to Blue Book and what types of
sightings were these?
4. How did the US Navy sightings compare to those from commercial and USCG ships?
5. Are UFO reports at sea very similar to each other or do they differ? Was the type of
UFO report dependent on the agency making the report?
The resulting database of ship reports does not contain all UFO reports by ships in the
Blue Book files. The scope of this study was limited to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Moreover, UFO reports from coastal regions that were categorized under a State or
Country would have been missed due to the screening methodology used. Section 3
describes in detail the methodology used to create the database.
4
2
Background and History of UFO Reports by Ships at Sea
Ships at sea have a long history of reporting sightings of meteors, weird nocturnal lights,
and other anomalous atmospheric phenomena either in their deck logs or in reports to
Hydrographic offices at port. Early documentation of anomalous lights in the sky is
found in the
Hydrographic Office Bulletin
(published in the US) and the
Marine Observer
(published in the United Kingdom). Post World War II, after the experience with the
surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, new procedures were established by the US military for
National Defense and early warning. These procedures also led to numerous reports by
merchant and naval vessels of unidentified objects in the sky. However, the driving force
for these reports was not the investigation of “flying saucers” reports but the detection of
and quick identification of possible unidentified threats to the continental USA. Project
Blue Book was the first effort by the US Military to systematically collect reports of
unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and to try to identify them. In this paper the term Blue
Book refers to all projects conducted by the Air Force to investigate UFOs; starting with
Project Sign in 1948 and including Project Grudge. The focus of this study, however, is
very narrow since it looks at only those reports that reached Project Blue Book in the
period of 1948-1968 by ships at sea.
2.1
Oldest Source of Marine UFO Reports
Some of the oldest reports of unidentified objects reported by ships at sea are located in
the
Hydrographic Office Bulletin.
In 1842, Matthew Fontaine Maury (commander of the
naval Oceanographic Office 1842-1862) instituted a system for collecting and using
oceanographic data by asking all shipmasters to submit reports of their experiences to the
Naval Oceanographic Office (NOO). The NOO then digested, compiled and published
the information in a bulletin. In 1866 the office was renamed the Hydrographic Office
and in 1962 it was designated as the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office.
2
Since the later
half of the 19
th
century, the
Hydrographic Office Bulletin
has published many sightings at
sea of meteors and other anomalous atmospheric phenomena. During the search of Blue
Book files for sightings at sea, numerous Hydrographic Office Bulletins (HOB) were
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