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GI0YEW > UFO 06.12.02 02:17l 118 Lines 6893 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 253028GI0YEW
Read: DG2NBN DK2ZA GUEST
Subj: J. F. Kennedy
Path: DB0MRW<DB0MAK<DB0FSG<DB0PV<OE2XOM<OE5XBL<OE3XSR<OK0PCC<OK0PAD<OK0PPL<
RZ6HXA<IK1ZNW<GB7CRV<EI3DIB<EI6EH<GB7TED<GB7HMI
Sent: 021201/0057Z @:GB7HMI.#63.GBR.EU #:12413 [Newtownards] FBB7.00g25 $:25302
From: GI0YEW@GB7HMI.#63.GBR.EU
To : UFO@WW
A True Story
This encounter occurred in 1970 while aboard the aircraft carrier, USS John F.
Kennedy in the Bermuda Triangle.
I was assigned to the communications department of the Kennedy and had been in
this section about a year. The ship was returning to Norfolk, VA after
completing a two week operational readiness exercise (ORE) in the Caribbean.
We were to stand down for 30 days, after arriving in Norfolk, to allow the
crew to take leave and visit family before deploying to the Mediterranean for
six months.
I was on duty in the communications center. My task was to monitor eight
teletypes printing the "Fleet Broadcasts." On the top row were four teletypes
each printing messages from four different channels. On the bottom row were
four more doing the exact same thing except the signal was carried on
different frequencies. If one of the primary receivers started taking "hits" I
would be able to retrieve the message from the bottom one. I also notified
Facilities Control of any hits so they could tune the receivers. On the other
side of the compartment (room) was the NAVCOMMOPNET (Naval Communications
Operations Network). This was the Ship to Shore circuit with the top teletype
being the receive and the bottom as the send.
It was in the evening, about 20:30 (8:30 PM) and the ship had just completed
an eighteen hour "Flight Ops." I had just taken a message off one of the
broadcasts and turned around to file it on a clip board. When I turned back to
the teletypes the primaries were typing garbage. I looked down to the
alternates which were doing the same. I walked a few feet to the intercom
between us and the Facilities Control. I called them and informed them of the
broadcasts being out. A voice replied that all communications were out. I then
turned and looked in the direction of the NAVCOMMOPNET and saw that the
operator was having a problem. I then heard the Task Group operator tell the
watch officer that his circuit was out also. In the far corner of the
compartment were the pneumatic tubes going to the Signal bridge (where the
flashing light and signal flag messages are sent and received). There is an
intercom there to communicate with the Signal Bridge and over this intercom we
heard someone yelling "There is something hovering over the ship!" A moment
later we heard another voice yelling "It's God! It's the end of the world!"
We all looked at each other. There were six of us in the Comm Center, and
someone said, "Lets go have a look!" The Comm Center is amidships, just under
the flight deck, almost in the center of the ship. We went out the door,
through Facilities Control and out that door, down the passageway (corridor)
about 55 feet to the hatch that goes out to the catwalk on the
edge of the flight deck. If you have ever been to sea, there is a time called
the time of no horizon. This happens in the morning and evening just as the
sun comes up or goes down over the horizon. During this time you cannot tell
where the sea and sky meet. This is the time of evening it was. As we looked
up, we saw a large, glowing sphere, three feet wide at arm's length. If the
sphere were, say, 100 feet above the ship, then it would have been about two
to three hundred feet in diameter. It made no sound that I could hear. The
light coming from it wasn't too bright, about half of what the sun would be.
It sort of pulsated a little and was yellow to orange.
We didn't get to looked at for more than about 20 seconds because General
Quarters (Battle stations) was sounding and the Communication Officer was in
the passageway telling us to get back into the Comm Center. We returned and
stayed there (that was our battle station). We didn't have much to do because
all the communication was still out. After about 20 minutes, the teletypes
started printing correctly again. We stayed at General Quarters for about
another hour, then secured. I didn't see or hear of any messages going out
about the incident.
Over the next few hours, I talked to a good friend who was a radar operator in
the CIC (combat information center). He told me that all the radar screens
were just glowing during the time of the incident. I also talked to a guy I
knew that worked on the Navigational Bridge. He told me that none of the
compasses were working and that the medics had to sedate a boatswains mate
that was a lookout on the signal bridge. I figured this was the one yelling it
was God.
It was ironic that of the 5,000 men on a carrier, that only a handful actually
saw this phenomenon. This was due to the fact that flight Ops had just be
completed a short time before this all started and all the flight deck
personnel were below resting. It should be noted that there are very few
places where you can go to be out in the open air aboard a carrier. From what
I could learn, virtually all electronic components stopped functioning during
the 20 minutes or so that what ever it was hovered over the ship. The two
Ready CAPs (Combat Air Patrols), which were F-4 Phantom jets that are always
ready to be launched, would not start during the incident.
A few days latter, as we were approaching Norfolk, the Commanding and
Executive Office came on the closed circuit TV system that we had. They did
this regularly to address the crew and pass on information. During this
particular session the Captain told us how well we did on the ORE and about
our upcoming deployment to the Mediterranean. At the very end of his spiel, he
said "I would like to remind the crew, that certain events that take place
aboard a Naval Combatant Ship are classified and are not to be discussed with
anyone without a need to know." This was the only official word I ever
received or heard of on the incident. I heard that some of the crew had been
"interviewed" about the incident, though. Being young and excited about my
visit home and going to the Mediterranean, I completely forgot about it until
years later when my wife and I went to see Close Encounters of the Third Kind
at the movies when it first came out. In fact the friend that had been the
radar operator was with his wife and went with us. As we walked across the
parking lot to my car after the show, I ask him if he remembered what we had
experienced years earlier on the ship. He looked at me and said he never
wanted to talk about it again. As he said this, he turned a little pale. I
never talked about the incident again, myself.
James Kopf Sr.
73 - Ken, GI0YEW @ GB7HMI
Remote Sysop - GB7HMI.#63.GBR.EU
GB7HMI BBS is a working memorial
to
the late Hugh Irvine - GI3TLT
original Sysop of GB7HMI
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Message timed: 01:15 UTC on 01 Dec 2002
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