UFO Sighting While Aboard
The Carrier USS Kearsarge

Date: May 15th 1963

Faith 7 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on May 16th 1963

My father had an awesome story about a UFO sighting he and other crewmen experienced when he was aboard the carrier USS Kearsarge awaiting splashdown of Faith 7, the capsule from the last Mercury mission.

My dad had a good story. Too bad I didn't get more details, I heard it about twenty five years ago or so and he only told it once. Well, to me anyway. He passed away in the early nineties and I never got to ask him about it again.

The gist is he and a friend took a break to go on deck and have a smoke. A navy photographer was on board to take shots of the splashdown scheduled that day and had his camera on a tripod, just taking pictures of the ocean and the ship at night.

My dad said he was on the midnight shift and this was about two, two thirty in the morning. As the three of them talked and smoked they all saw a formation of three UFO's with red, blue and white lights on it. I don't remember if he said anything about strobing or flashing, but I do remember he said the thing he remembered most, besides their speed, was there was absolutely no sound coming from the crafts, which he described as being closer to a child's top shape than saucers. They estimated the UFO's were half a mile or so when they first spotted them, coming from behind their position as they had all been facing the sea and the ships came from the other side of the ship.

I can't recall starboard or port but he did say they were able to watch them as they approached, swung around the rear of the ship and hovered over the water a hundred yards or so away from where they were on deck. The cameraman was able to get some photos, not sure how many, before they all took off almost straight up and out of sight. As far as size goes he said he didn't think they were much bigger in diameter than the length of a fighter and probably taller than they were wide.

Here he mentioned a disagreement between the three with the cameraman talking his view and his friend saying they were bigger, although not by a great deal.
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. As far as my father was concerned neither he nor his friend ever heard anything about the film and never saw the cameraman again once he left the ship. Not that that's unusual, it was just a temporary assignment anyway.

I don't remember if anything went wrong with the Mercury mission but I do know they did retrieve the capsule okay.

My father served in the Navy for twenty years and that's the only story he ever told me about his personal experience with UFO's. He did tell me that he had heard other stories of strange flying things over the years from fellow sailors though, but never in any detail I could pass on, or even recall for that matter! ; )
It's not much of a story but I remember when my father told it to me my skin crawled. He was not a man to invent stories and not one time can I ever recall him telling me a story regarding his personal experiences that was not true.

I know had I been there I would have freaked! I wish I would have gotten more details, especially whether or not anyone else on the ship besides my father, his friend and the photographer witnessed the event. I did remember one other detail; the entire episode didn't last very long, only a couple of minutes from the time they first spotted the UFO's to the time they were out of sight. Yeah, some wickedly capable craft, whatever they were.

If you have seen anything like this in the same area please be kind enough to contact Brian Vike at: sighting@telus.net with the details of your sighting. All personal information is kept confidential.

Credit:The Vike Archives & Sightings.com