A series of U.S. Navy encounters involving multiple unidentified aerial objects and unmanned aerial systems near several warships during training operations off the California coast in 2019.
In July 2019, multiple U.S. Navy destroyers operating off the coast of Southern California experienced repeated encounters with Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), initially described as swarms of Unidentified Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones.
Key Details of the Encounters:
Ships Involved: The incidents involved several Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, including the USS Kidd, USS Rafael Peralta, USS Russell, USS John Finn, and USS Paul Hamilton.
Timeline: The primary incidents occurred on the nights of July 14 and 15, 2019, with subsequent sightings on July 25, 26, and 30.
Object Behavior: The objects, some described as spherical or triangular, performed brazen maneuvers such as hovering, rapid acceleration, and moving in coordinated swarms of up to six aircraft. They flew in low-visibility conditions and, in some cases, crossed directly over the ships' decks.
Investigation: The Navy launched a formal investigation involving the FBI and Coast Guard. Ship logs referred to the objects as UAS/UAVs, and a SNOOPIE team (photographic intelligence) was deployed to document the contacts.
Official Conclusion: In May 2022, the Department of Defense and Navy officially confirmed that the 2019 California encounters were caused by drones, not extraterrestrial craft. Scott Bray, Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence, stated that the footage was "unresolved for several years" until the Navy compared night-vision data from the California incidents with a separate, similar drone swarm event that occurred off a different coast, allowing them to identify the objects as drones.
| Date: | 2019-07-01 |
| Location: | Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California |
| Country: | United States |
| Category: | Military |
| Credibility: | High / Officially Documented |