November 19, 1964 — Atlantic Ocean
9:00 p.m. The USS Gyatt destroyer is stationed in the Atlantic Ocean about 220 miles northwest of Puerto Rico for training exercises when its radar detects a target approaching the island from the northeast. Anomalous targets that respond to an IFF code have been detected on radar on November 16–18, although no other aircraft are in the training area. The ship relays a message to Roosevelt Roads Naval Station [now José Aponte de la Torre Airport] in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, which then contacts Lt. Cmdr. K. H. Woodsbury, pilot of an F-8C aircraft of Utility Squadron Eight that is already flying in the neighborhood at an altitude of 30,000 feet. The aircraft reports a stranger closing in very fast. The pilot describes the object as delta-shaped and about the size of a fighter. Its color is black or gray and it has no contrail or lights except for a light source emitting from the tail during periods of acceleration. The pilot pursues the object but cannot intercept. The target accelerates out of sight in a wide starboard turn climbing through 50,000 feet at about an 18°–20° angle in excess of Mach 1. The commanding officer of the squadron, T. D. Fosdick, summarizes: “There is no reasonable explanation for this target. Its speed, acceleration, ceiling and ability to decelerate exceed any aircraft I have ever seen or heard of.” During the encounter the SPS-49 radar is jammed for a short period of time. A final radar encounter takes place in the Caribbean on November 24. [Eberhart]
Record Card:
Detailed Summary:
Squadron Report:
Scope Photos can be found in BB files on NICAP website.
Sources:
Brad Sparks, Blue Books Unknowns Catalogue, Case 1590, p. 302;
Antonio F. Rullán, “Blue Book UFO Reports at Sea by Ships: Analysis of the Blue Book Ship Database,” December 10, 2002, pp. 43-44;
Robert Powell, UFOs: A Scientist Explains What We Know (And Don’t Know), 2024, p. 93;
NICAP, “U.S.S. Gyatt Tackles Bogey”;