Did the Super-carrier USS JFK experience a 2nd type close encounter in 1971 at Bermuda Triangle?

The peace of God to all that belong to the light,
Dear readers,

The Bermuda triangle is one of the most enigmatic areas of the world, covered by a coat of mystery, this is a zone of sea that has witnessed the mysterious disappearance of swimmers, fishers, boats, airplanes and even great ships since the time of Christopher Columbus.

It was Columbus in his very first trip who was the very first European sailor that reported to have seen strange lights moving around the ocean in the so called Sargasso sea, one of the most dreary areas in the Atlantic, normally plenty of fog and with gulf weed growing everywhere until the very surface of the water.

In preparation for the annual cruise in the Mediterranean and coming from the Caribbean where it was in navy exercises, the USS JFK crossed the waters of the Bermuda triangle probably about the summer of 1971 , in the way to its port in Norfolk, Va.

The best well known account of the incident is by Jim Koft, who was in the communications Department and he probably enter in to the navy since 1949. Nevertheless, it is known that other members of the crew were along years chased by the UFO researchers to obtain more information about this interesting episode. The Navy has denied or even better ignored at all the incident, that was never officially reported.

Here is the story according with Mr Jim Kopf,

US Aircraft Carrier
stopped by UFO
By Jim Kopf

This encounter occurred in 1971, while aboard the aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy CVA-67 (now CV-67) 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, Virginia, 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 (known as a duplex circuit). Next to this was the Task Group Circuit for ship to ship communications (task group operations or TGO).

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 was the pneumatic tubes going to the Signal bridge (where the flashing light and signal flag messages are sent/receive). 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 IS 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 (opposite from the "Island" or that part of the ship where the bridge is). 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.
...

Since the account is full of details, so pretty long, let me continue in a second post.

By the way it was taken from the personal website of Mr Kopf, but it is reproduced in many more UFO websites around the world.

Nevertheless other source to read about it is the book Need to Know: UFOs, the Military, and Intelligence
By Timothy Good

Need to Know, UFOs, Military and Intelligence

Thanks for your attention,

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: The angel of light

The account on the incident by Mr Jim Kopf continues as follows:

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. Well it seemed large, however, there was no point of reference. That is to say, if the sphere were low; say 100 feet above the ship, then it would have been about two to three hundred feet in diameter. If it were say 500 feet about the ship then it would have been larger. 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 it 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 out 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 that was in CIC (combat information center) who was a radar operator. 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 phnomenon. 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 Patrol), which were two F-4 Phantoms that are always ready to be launched, would not start.

I heard from the scuttlebut (slang - rumor mill) that three or four "men in trenchcoats" had landed, and were interviewing the personnel that had seen this phenomena. I was never interviewed, maybe because no one knew that I had seen it.

A few days latter, as we were approaching Norfolk, the Commanding and Executive Officers 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 all the official word I ever received or heard of the incident.

Being young and excited about my visit home and going to the Med, 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, 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 it he turned a little pale. I never talked about the incident again. When I discovered "Aliens and Strange Phenomenon" on MSN and started reading the posts I started thinking about it again. Now I seem obsessed in finding out all I can about this phenomena.

This is the original report,

www.rense.com...

other sites that replicate it are:

www.ufoupdateslist.com...

ufos.about.com...

www.ufoevidence.org...

Thanks,

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: The angel of light

Dear Readers,

Logically I confirmed that Mr Kopf was indeed in the crew of the Super-carrier John F. Kennedy by that year of 1971, his name appear posted in the navy records:

www.hullnumber.com...

Now, the ship had the following characteristics and specifications:

USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) (formerly CVA-67) is the only ship of her class (a variant of the Kitty Hawk class of aircraft carrier) and the last conventionally powered carrier built for the United States Navy. The ship is named after the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and is nicknamed "Big John." Kennedy was originally designated a CVA (fixed wing attack carrier); however, the designation was changed to CV to denote that the ship was capable of anti-submarine warfare, making her an all-purpose carrier.

After nearly 40 years of service in the United States Navy, Kennedy was officially decommissioned on 1 August 2007. She is berthed at the NAVSEA Inactive Ships On-site Maintenance facility in Philadelphia. She is available for donation as a museum and memorial to a qualified organization.[1][4] The name has been adopted by the future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN-79).

Contracted as Ship Characteristic Board SCB-127C, the ship's keel was laid on 22 October 1964 by Newport News Shipbuilding. The ship was officially christened 27 May 1967 by Jacqueline Kennedy and her 9-year-old daughter, Caroline, two days short of what would have been President Kennedy's 50th birthday. The ship entered service 7 September 1968.

The John F. Kennedy is a modified version of the earlier Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carriers.[6] Originally scheduled to be the fourth Kitty Hawk-class carrier, the ship received so many modifications during construction she formed her own class. The ship was originally ordered as a nuclear carrier, using the A3W reactor, but converted to conventional propulsion after construction had begun.[5] The island is somewhat different from that of the Kitty Hawk class, with angled funnels to direct smoke and gases away from the flight deck. Kennedy is also 17 feet (5.2 m) shorter than the Kitty Hawk class.

After an ORI conducted by Commander, Carrier Division Two, Kennedy left for the Mediterranean in April 1969. The ship reached Rota on the morning of 22 April 1969 and relieved USS Forrestal (CVA-59). Rear Admiral Pierre N. Charbonnet, Commander, Carrier Striking Forces, Sixth Fleet, and Commander, Carrier Striking Unit 60.1.9, shifted his flag to John F. Kennedy. The turnover complete by nightfall, the carrier, escorted by destroyers, transited the Strait of Gibraltar at the start of the mid watch on 22 April. The next day, John F. Kennedy refueled from Marias (AO-57), and acquired the company of a Soviet Kotlin-class destroyer (Pennant No. 383).

Pls read:

www.uscarriers.net...

Here are the ship's statistics:

www.navysite.de...

The communications body was integrated by 23 people

www.navysite.de...

The 1971 Mediterranean cruise season for the JFK started on October 1st 1971, therefore the incident might have occurred probably in September of that year.

www.navysite.de...

Of course the thread is open to the free discussion of the topic, for whoever become interested or think can bring new elements to the information already posted on what happened in that summer of 1971 when the carrier crossed the Bermuda triangle.

Thanks for your attention,

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: The angel of light

Dear Readers,

Barbara Stewart in her book The Bermuda Triangle suggest clearly the incident occurred to the USS JFK in September of 1971 is not an isolated one, and that the mystery of this zone is intrinsically linked with the UFO Activity, she even goes beyond that point and appears to support the hypothesis that there is possible a kind of UFO base somewhere in the middle of that area.

The Bermuda Triangle Barbara Stewart.

Mrs Stewart quote the author john Wallace Spencer, from the book The lymbo of the lost, who has arrived to the conclusion that many of the mysterious disappearances in the triangle are nothing else that UFO Abductions.

www.otterrunbooks.com...

Thanks for your attention,

The Angel of Lightness

I like the story Only thing that mystifies me is how someone could just forget about the encounter, especially one like that, for a year or so..
men in trench coats maybe did something to the entire crew, hah.

After reading your post, I talked to my dad who was on the JFK at that time. He verified that the JFK did indeed go through the Bermuda Triangle on its way to Norfolk, VA from the Caribbean before it's Mediterranean Cruise. He would have been below deck at the time this sighting is reported and has no memory of hearing about any weird phenomenon, but all the other details check out. I'm printing out the report for him to read, so maybe it will jog his memory of anything odd going on. I'll let you know if he tells me anything.

It makes sense since they could spoof the nuke silos.

Nice story! Shame it's based in The US of Whatever!

a reply to: mojoharry

UFO = Unindentified Flying Object.

Better not care for something that doesn't want to be known right?

a reply to: The angel of lightThis describes a 'UFO' I (and others) witnessed in the early 60s...Yellowish/Orange in color...At night...Appearance in the sky was about twice as large as a full moon...Without a reference, had no idea of the actual size...No noise...Traveled very slowly...From horizon to horizon watched it for about 15-20 minutes...

After thinking about it after all these years it just occurred to me that the size of the thing did not really change as it went beyond the horizon...I'm now thinking the object must have been huge...

originally posted by: canucks555
I like the story

Only thing that mystifies me is how someone could just forget about the encounter, especially one like that, for a year or so..
men in trench coats maybe did something to the entire crew, hah.

I have yet to read the whole story above, but you pose a valid question. I will convey a story from a credible friend whom was a young teen at the time. He is of a high IQ and retired navy actually with high rank and responsibility, his only fault being a little too conservative.

He and all the Boy Scouts at the time were camping on a lake in N. MI. at the time when over the lake a disk shaped craft came flying towards the group. Jim was a calm young man, similar to his personna now, analytical and he noticed right away, the whole group went quiet, remained calm with no shouting, just watching the disc.

The craft stopped and hovered a few hundred feet from the troop, everyone remained strangly calm and Jim in his fashion made a comment to a friend standing by him, telling him it was just a plane advertising Joe's bar in town. He described in detail the shape and even the windows and it was not an airplane.

Then the craft darted off, the troop went back to doing what they were doing, setting up camp with zero discussion of what had just happened which confused Jim.

A few weeks later Jim confronted a scout leader when meeting him on the street in town, asking him what he thought of the flying saucer they had seen when camping. "oh, you mean that airplane that was advertising Joe's bar", and then he walked away. None of the rest of the troop remembered any of the event however. The scout leader was not aware of JIm's comment to another teen as they were standing well away from the group, yet the comment was the cover story or screen memory implanted.

Sounds like and performs like a type of not much talked about electronic counter measure called a plasma bloom.

It is created by converging radar or microwave or even laser beams to ionize a patch of air atb the convergance point. The air will become excited and start to glow in a spherical shape.

The excited air molecules will then start generating their own radio waves and electric fields along with magnetic fields generated through induction. I believe the beams generating this thing can be finesse so the plasma bloom generated desired radio and electrical frequencies.

Good for creating a lot of noise to confuse radars, comms, people, sensors, incoming missiles. Also good for generating EMP and shorting aircraft, boats, people, missiles and warheads.

Another thing i believe may be possible with this type of ECM is that the plasma bloom can be generated in between the ship or aircraft or tank or ground personelle and an explosion to absorb some of the incoming shockwave like a sheild.

It is totally possible there was an unannounced test of the system or that they were experimenting with outfitting a navy vessel equiped with a rig like described an understandibly didnt tell many people.

Could have possibly been another nation experimenting with one too against one of our ships.

Foo fighters n orbs = not alien. But black ops and classified ECM.

originally posted by: ItCameFromOuterSpace
After reading your post, I talked to my dad who was on the JFK at that time. He verified that the JFK did indeed go through the Bermuda Triangle on its way to Norfolk, VA from the Caribbean before it's Mediterranean Cruise. He would have been below deck at the time this sighting is reported and has no memory of hearing about any weird phenomenon, but all the other details check out. I'm printing out the report for him to read, so maybe it will jog his memory of anything odd going on. I'll let you know if he tells me anything.

Besides that they went through the Bermuda Triangle going from the Caribbean to Norfolk, what other details check out?

Traveling though the Bermuda Triangle isn't uncommon at all -- many many ships do it every day, from Naval vessels, to cruise ships, to fishing boats, to cargo ships.

Its not uncommon to hear such accounts, heres a few vids from the history channel

Harry Jordon, Radar operator on USS FDR



Other videos in the same series
video1

video2

video3

a reply to: ItCameFromOuterSpace

Dear ltCameFromOuterSpace,

It should be really interesting that we can find a way to contact other people, like your father, that were in the USS JFK traveling on that summer of 1971 crossing the Bermuda Triangle, to see what other possible testimonies we can find on this intriguing phenomenon.

Thanks a lot for your reply.

The Angel of Lightness

Besides that they went through the Bermuda Triangle going from the Caribbean to Norfolk, what other details check out?

Traveling though the Bermuda Triangle isn't uncommon at all -- many many ships do it every day, from Naval vessels, to cruise ships, to fishing boats, to cargo ships.

That was really about it. The other details about the ship, the jets and the times when men would be on deck, etc. were accurate. But you're right - he said it was routine to go through the Bermuda Triangle.

originally posted by: The angel of light
a reply to: ItCameFromOuterSpace

Dear ltCameFromOuterSpace,

It should be really interesting that we can find a way to contact other people, like your father, that were in the USS JFK traveling on that summer of 1971 crossing the Bermuda Triangle, to see what other possible testimonies we can find on this intriguing phenomenon.

Thanks a lot for your reply.

The Angel of Lightness

Yeah, I wish there was a way to hear from other people on that ship during that time.
The only weird thing (weird to me) he remembered from that trip was when they were near Georgia in the Gulf Of Mexico and there was what appeared to be a red/orange fiery mass high in the sky directly above the ship that started out small but spread out to huge proportions then basically evaporated and drifted off into the wind. They were told it was a rocket test of some sort. I wonder if this could be what Jim Kopf saw. Though, I have no idea what kind of test would've have made all of the instruments on board go crazy, and the jets unable to take off.

One of the first things that I did when I started reading this was to go to the same sites that were mentioned to see if Mr. Kapf was on the USS JFK at the time mentioned.

In 1985 I was in the Air Wing that was attached to the USS Forrestal. We were in the Jacksonville Op Area to allow East Coast pilots to do their Carrier Quals. A large section of the Jax Op Area is in the area called the Bermuda Triangle.

One night we had just finished flight ops and I was doing some inspections on our helos. It was about 1 AM and a really nice night. Crystal clear and after your eyes adjusted you could really see just how many stars there were.

I was inside a helicopter watching the fuel gauges while it was being refueled. Right at the top of the control panel was a magnetic compass that was spinning like a top. I looked outside and it was totally pitch black. I've seen some dark nights, but, I was always able to see the horizon where the ocean meets the sky. On that night I couldn't. I've seen fog and low cloud cover, but, I was sure that this wasn't either of them. Then just as suddenly as it started, it quit like somebody flipped a switch.

Yeah, I wish there was a way to hear from other people on that ship during that time.
The only weird thing (weird to me) he remembered from that trip was when they were near Georgia in the Gulf Of Mexico and there was what appeared to be a red/orange fiery mass high in the sky directly above the ship that started out small but spread out to huge proportions then basically evaporated and drifted off into the wind. They were told it was a rocket test of some sort. I wonder if this could be what Jim Kopf saw. Though, I have no idea what kind of test would've have made all of the instruments on board go crazy, and the jets unable to take off.

Actually I was wrong about the rocket test he saw. That was at a completely different time.
I talked to my dad last night about this a little more and the only thing peculiar he can remember was stopping in Florida briefly on that cruise. He said they didn't officially dock or anything, just stopped in for a bit in a port (can't remember the name). He thought that if this sighting really occurred, maybe they stopped to get some info or perhaps this was when the "men in trench coats" came aboard to investigate.