Nimitz UAP : New witness from the USS Princeton CIC

In March 2020, I was able to track down a new witness of the now famous Nimitz UAP event. Before reaching out to him, I checked his background and online records, including US Navy documents, and was able to verify his identity. He is a former US Navy Petty Officer Third Class, and was stationed aboard the USS Princeton in 2004. He was assigned to the Signals Warfare Division, overseeing the electronic warfare equipment and working shifts in the Combat and Information Center (CIC). He retired from the US Navy in the late 2000s and is now working for a Defense contractor and does not wish to come forward. I reached out to him on social media, and we started an online conversation over a couple of weeks. He allowed me to share his story as long as I removed any identifying details, as he doesn't want to be bothered. He is not looking for publicity nor fame. He is just a US Navy veteran who experienced an extraordinary event.

Here is his story.

November 14th, 2004

"I was on watch from 2400-06:30 PST. We had tracks on the UFO all night from multiple sources. Me and a coworker went outside to smoke a cigarette. It was night time. We visually saw a light at the same radar location. It whipped around the side of the ship ungodly fast and we were like “ okay” going to go back to watch now." The Witness confirmed he saw the UAP with his own eyes, and he wasn't using binoculars. When asked about the appearance of the phenomenon, he described it : "The night time sky was sort of cloudy, I don’t remember it being clear. The object appeared white. It did not have navigation lights per se like you see on military aircraft port and starboard. It was not bigger than the moon. It moved very fast when it changed locations. It was startling. We ended our smoke break when it whipped around the side of the ship very quickly. It was hard to determine size and shape. It looked round to me but that could have just been the light at night time naturally diffusing. It didn’t look like a disc or a tic tac seen in the video on FLIR." « It made no noise. When fighter jets or helicopters are out. There is no mistake. They are loud that close. I would guess it was less than a mile or 2 away. »

I asked the Princeton witness if this sighting occurred on the same day as the intercept by CDR Dave Fravor. "It was. The intercept happened after my watch. I was asleep. Because of the nature of my work, I saw the video that was released. It was on classified network email, from Nimitz personnel." According to other witnesses that have come forward, some of them saw a longer version of the FLIR video that was captured by LT Chad Underwood after Dave Fravor landed on the USS Nimitz. Regarding the existence of a longer version, the witness explained : "Yes, there is. But the good stuff is what is released. I never saw any video of it crashing into the water. They were taken to my understanding. Plenty of people saw the classified video. » When asked if the video was part of any kind of report, he answered « No. It was just passed around. Ships work together on planning and stuff. There is classified email that goes back and forth. »

According to the Witness, a lot of other sailors also saw that unusual light : "I’m sure probably 15-20 people saw it at night time."

The Witness confirmed the object was monitored on the USS Princeton Radar system before the sighting. « It was just stationary following us. » « When I was on watch it was flying a profile that is not possible. It was literally going from 100 feet to 35k feet in seconds but it was only traveling like 20-30 knots behind us. So it’s elevation change speed was insane. Tell me what can do that? »

I asked the Witness if there was any kind of signal coming from the object : « Visual and radar only. Passive systems didn’t catch anything. Which was weird. The video was thermal. So it gave off heat. » « I remember it was of concern because we kept dropping the track. « This thing can't be real » was what everyone was thinking. Then they brought up the SPS-49. It had skin on it [radar reflection]. So did the SPS-48. So did the SPY-1. It didn’t emit signals that we could intercept. » He emphasized that « some of the radars are just… They are the best. »

I asked him what he thought about the theory of the UFO being some kind of Electronic Countermeasure. « Absolutely not. That was my job. We tested experimental countermeasures. We tested experimental things. We would have known about it. I had a Top Secret/SCI. No higher clearance. »

In the following hours, everybody was talking about the sighting : « There isn’t much to do while at sea. Everyone was talking about it that knew. There were jokes also. I sat in the [classified Princeton Captain’s] brief afterwards. Basically it was ship schedule preparation and reviews of exercises with high level officers, chiefs, and intelligence people. According to our captain at the time, the Nimitz Admiral dismissed it as ice falling from a cargo plane. Everyone snickered and laughed. Made UFO jokes. »

According to the Witness, there was no specific security actions taken regarding this event. « I didn’t sign any NDAs [regarding that particular event]. But I work in Defense. So I would not reveal anything classified, as I maintain a clearance. » He also confirmed that he was never interviewed about this event, and has no knowledge about an official investigation. « There was probably a report filed over message traffic. It’s probably classified. »

I asked the Witness what he thought of other people’s testimonies : « Day and Voorhis account was pretty accurate but when I was on watch, there were not many [UFOs]. There was one. » Later in the conversation, he insisted « I only saw one object. It was the same object that we saw on radar from multiple sensors. SPS-48, SPS-49, SPY1-B. »

About the intercept, he explained « When they train like that, they have rules and procedures. Nobody is carrying weapons or have weapons in firing mode. They only intercepted the UFO because they were starting a training event. The EWs on the Nimitz were talking with us about what went down then quickly stopped. The pilots were scared on audio. It was real.»

I mentioned that according to other witnesses, the E-2 Hawkeye crew apparently saw the UFO, but had to remain silent about it. « Possible » he said.

He doesn’t remember picking up the object on radar on the days that followed the intercept.

« You have no idea what’s it’s like to see that stuff on tv with people that you knew or remember 15 years later. » he told me, « I used to tell close friends about it. They were like yeah yeah Haha. Then it’s on TV and the news. »

When asked about his opinion about the whole event, he told me : « My guess is it was not a test. It was a UFO. »