Blue Book UFO Reports at Sea by Ships Analysis of the Blue Book Ship Database A.F. Rulln December 10, 2002 Martinez, CA Copyright2002 Antonio F. Rulln All Rights Reserved 2BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF UFO REPORTS BY SHIPS AT SEA................................. 5 2.3JANAP-146 I NCONSISTENCY IN THEIMPLEMENTATION OFOPNAVANDMERINT INSTRUCTIONS.................. 46 AJORITY OFNAVYSHIPS REPORTINGUFOSWEREPARTOFPACIFICBARRIERFLEET....................... 46 AJORITY OFUSCG SHIPS REPORTINGUFOSWEREPARTOFTHEOCEANSTATIONSYSTEM.............. 49 ANDOPNAVSYSTEM DID WORK WHEN KEY SIGNALS WERE SENT................................. 51 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. 1Introduction and Objective of Study The objective of this study was to better understand the Project Blue Book 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 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. 2Background 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 theHydrographic Office Bulletin(published in the US) and theMarine 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. 2.1Oldest Source of Marine UFO Reports Some of the oldest reports of unidentified objects reported by ships at sea are located in theHydrographic 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. Since the later half of the 19 century, theHydrographic Office Bulletinhas 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 found. These Hydrographic Office Bulletins started appearing in Blue Book files in 1952 as information only (not official Blue Book cases). There were about six cases from HOB in 1952, ten in 1953, and eight in 1954. Afterwards there was a long hiatus with occasional HO bulletins used for information only until 1962 and 1963 when eight reports sent to the Hydrographic Office became official Blue Book reports instead of information only. Another early publication of odd reports of nocturnal lights and other anomalous marine phenomena was theMarine Observer. This is a publication from the United Kingdom that used to be published monthly and is now a quarterly. The publication focuses on meteorology and marine sciences. William Corliss refers to it numerous times in his book Lighting, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights, and Related Luminous Phenomena . The two oldest references to theMarine Observerin Corliss book date to 1924. One was about ball lightning and the other was about marine phosphorescence . The University of Colorado study (lead by Dr. Edward Condon) that investigated UFO reports for the US Air Force also referred to theMarine Observerin their final report in 1968. In the chapter on Optical Mirage, William Viezee (a meteorologist from Stanford Research Institute) quotes from theMarine Observerto illustrate examples of mirages at sea quotes from issues dating from 1951 through 1957. No reports from the Marine Observer were found in the Blue Book files. 2.2Continental Defense and the US Navy Role An excellent summary of the U.S. Navys Role in Continental Air Defense was written by Captain Joseph F. Bouchard USN in the Naval War College Press . The following section is a summary of the key points from Captain Bouchards paper that are relevant in order to better understand UFO reports sent to Blue Book by the US Navy. During the Cold War the US Military implemented several Continental Defense systems for early warning of potential air attacks from the Russians. From 1949-1954 a program called LASHUP provided air defense for California, the upper Middle West and the Tennessee Valley. This system included early warning patrol by Navy radar picket destroyer escorts and PB-1W and PO-1W airborne early warning aircraft to guard the seaward approaches to the northeastern US. In 1951, the first air surveillance radar system for the entire northern approach to the US became operational and was known as the Pine Tree Line. In 1954, The Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) was established and headquartered at Ent Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. The Eisenhower administration, however, was concerned about gaps in the US air defenses and started to build the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line. The DEW line was completed across Alaska in 1953 and across northern Canada in 1956. Since 1951, the Navys role was to provide radar picket destroyer escorts (modernized with the latest air search radar) to conduct limited radar picket patrol off the East Coast of the United States and to extend radar coverage beyond the eastern end of the Pine Tree Line. In 1954, a system of two radar barriers was established to guard the Atlantic and Pacific flanks of the United States. The Navy took responsibility for the offshore barriers. These barriers were named the Atlantic and Pacific Contiguous Barriers. The Atlantic Contiguous Barrier stretched along the East Coast from Cape Cod to North Carolina. It consisted of five radar picket stations that were located about 300 nautical miles off the coast. The Pacific Contiguous Barrier stretched from Washington to central California. It consisted of five radar picket stations that were also about 300 nautical miles off the coast. All Navy efforts for Air Defense reported to CONAD. The radar picket stations originally consisted of converted Destroyer Escorts (DERs) and in 1960 they were replaced with radar picket ships (AGRs). By 1955, it was recognized that the DEW line needed to be extended farther out at sea and that new Barriers were needed. The new Atlantic and Pacific Barriers in support of the DEW system were operational on 1956 and 1958 respectively. The Atlantic Barrier consisted of four radar picket stations at 250 nautical mile intervals from Newfoundland to the Azores. The Pacific Barrier extended from Midway Island in the central Pacific to Kodiak in the Aleutians. Five radar picket ships were stationed at 200 nautical mile intervals in the Pacific Barrier. Any unidentified air contacts detected by the Atlantic or Pacific Barrier stations were passed on to the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD established in 1957 to replace CONAD) headquarters for further evaluation. By 1965, these sea based radar barriers became obsolete due to improvements in Air Force shore-based air surveillance radar. In September 1965, the Navys role in continental air defense ended and these barriers were disestablished. The DERs and AGRs radar picket ships mission was, in order of priority: to provide early warning of air contacts approaching the north American continent, to provide surface and antisubmarine surveillance, to report weather conditions at their stations, navigational aid to civilian airliners and to assist in search and rescue efforts. 2.3JANAP-146 Instructions and its Impact on Ships at Sea The Joint Army-Navy-Air Force Publication (JANAP) number 146 consisted of instructions for military and civilian personnel on how to report sightings of enemy aircraft, missiles, submarines, surface vessels, and unidentified flying objects. The JANAP instructions evolved from ones used during World War II titled Communication Instructions for Reporting Enemy Sightings (CIRES) . During the early years of the Cold War, the United States did not know the air offensive capability of the Soviet Union and did not have a sophisticated radar system to detect a potential surprise attack from the Soviet Union. As a result, military intelligence had to rely on numerous sighting reports from all parts of the country and its military services. JANAP-146s objective was limited to the reporting of information of vital importance to the security of the United States and later Canada. JANAP-146 was mainly concerned with potential enemy crafts and not with flying saucers. JANAP included Unidentified Flying Objects as a reported category because of the potential of identifying them as enemy crafts. JANAP 146 procedures changed incrementally 5 times since their inception in 1948. Table 1 shows the dates when the five versions of JANAP-146 were issued and the key differences in each version. The change that affected marine vessels for the first time was JANAP-146 version C. This version required all US Flag vessels, all fishing vessels of US registry, all US Government vessels, and all US military vessels to report information of vital importance to the US Navy. Before this version of JANAP, all intelligence reports were expected only for aircraft (military and civilian). Sighting reports made by waterborne sources were identified by the word MERINT. While those reports made from airborne sources were identified by the word CIRVIS. Sightings in the Atlantic Ocean were reported to the Commander Eastern Sea Frontier and sightings in the Pacific Ocean were reported to the Commander Western Sea Frontier. These Commanders then forwarded all airborne sightings and the waterborne sightings evaluated as unknown or hostile to the Commander, Eastern Air Defense Force or Western Air Defense Force. Table 1: History and Evolution of JANAP-146 US RegulationDate IssuedKey Differences October 1, 1948 Issued regulation and then it was tabled by Major General Cabell JANAP 146(A) September 25, 1950 Start of CIRVIS reporting for commercial and military pilots Added UFOs to the list of sighting categories JANAP 146 (B) September 2, 1951 Not Available JANAP 146 (C) Allowed Waterborne sources and added MERINT reports JANAP 146 (D) February 1, 1959 Integrated Canada into the reporting instructions JANAP 146 (E) Added that Photographs should be sent to the Director of Naval Intelligence Added special reporting instruction for unidentifiable objects In JANAP-146(C), all MERINT reports were sent first to the Navy Commanders of the Eastern and Western Sea Frontiers (COMEASTSEAFRON and COMWESTSEAFRON). COMEASTSEAFRON and COMWESTSEAFRON then passed all airborne sightings and only those waterborne sightings that were evaluated as unknown or hostile to Air Defense Forces. In February of 1959, JANAP-146 (D) changed the requirement that only airborne and unknown or hostile waterborne sightings had to be forwarded to the Air Defense Forces. In JANAP-146 (D), all MERINT reports had be sent to the Commander in Chief of North American Air Defense Command (CINCNORAD), the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, the RACF Air Defense Command, and the Appropriate Canadian Flag Officer in Command. By 1966, in JANAP-146 (E), the list of military agencies in the US and Canada that required copies of the MERINT reports grew to include the Commander-in-Chief Strategic Air Command (CINCSAC) and Antisubmarine Warfare Forces in the Atlantic and Pacific Fleet. 2.4Navy Instructions on UFO Reporting On April 29, 1952, the Department of the Air Force issued Air Force Letter No. 200-5, which set forth Air Force responsibility and reporting procedures for information pertaining to UFOs. Henceforth, all incidents observed by Air Force personnel or received by any Air Force installation from a civilian source had to be reported in accordance with this letter. On September 25, 1952, the Navy issued a similar directive that commanded all naval installations to report sightings to ATIC and/or the Pentagon and Air Defense Command (ADC). The Navy instructions were titled OPNAV Instruction 3820 (OpNav: Office of the Chief of Naval Operations). In the search through ship reports in Blue Book files, references to three Naval Instructions were found: OPNAV INST 3820.9 CINCPACFLT INST 3820.3 CINCLANTFLT INST 03360.2C OPNAV 3820 was the umbrella instruction for the US Navy on UFO reporting. CINPACFLT INST 3820.3 was the instruction issued by the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet in response to the higher level instruction. CINLANTFLT INST 03360.2C was the equivalent instruction issued by the Commander in Chief of the Atlantic Fleet. Since these OPNAV instructions preceded JANAP-146(C) in 1954, they were the first instructions issued to Navy ships to report unid