US aircraft carrier ‘stalked by 40ft ball of fire UFO seen by HUNDREDS of crew in biggest modern mass sighting’
A UFO was allegedly seen by hundreds of military witnesses as it hovered over the deck of a nuclear-powered US Navy aircraft carrier, former crewmen have claimed.
The USS Ronald Reagan is said to have been the scene of what may be one of the most extraordinary UFO encounters in US military history as a 40-foot orange ball of light appeared near the ship.
It comes as US officials are increasingly opening up about the fact there have been a string of unknown and unexplained incidents near warships and military installations.
And the Pentagon now appears to be taking the UFO issue more seriously, with a new dedicated office signed into law last year following a landmark report by the Department of Defence.
With bombshell videos showing fighter planes observing strange objects in the sky, the reports of the encounter over the USS Ronald Reagan are the latest to be revealed by servicemen.
And it comes as next week there will be historic hearings in Washington DC on UFOs - now more commonly referred to as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).
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Documentary filmmaker - who produced 2019 film about the famous 2004 US Navy encounter with the "Tic Tac" object - has been investigating the case.
And he has helped former navy quartermaster Karol Olesiak and his shipmates to come forward about what happened that night off the East Coast of the US in 2004.
Mr Olesiak - who was in active service from 2002 to 2006 - was aboard the USS Ronald Reagan and was stationed on the watch.
He was on the carrier's central island when he saw the giant floating orange orb at around 8pm.
The quartermaster estimated the object was up to 40 foot across - hovering over the flight deck - and he says hundreds of people working on the deck must have seen the phenomena.
The UFO was near ship - which was travelling around 22 knots - for around four hours, according to Mr Olesiak.
And he said there was an eerie calm amongst the senior officers and bridge crew - as if they had seen such a phenomena before.
"The entire bridge team was pilots. My assumption is yes [they had seen something similar before], but I asked an officer if any of them were talking about it the next day and he said 'yes'," the former US Navy sailor told The Sun Online.
Mr Beaty said the encounter could be one of the "the biggest mass sightings" of a UFO in modern history, with Mr Olesiak adding he is surprised it has not come out before.
It is latest UFO encounter to have been reported near to a US nuclear asset, following reports of similar objects near missile bases and other nuclear-powered warships.
US military personnel have spoken out about these encounters as the UFO issue takes centre stage in Washington DC.
USS Ronald Reagan was the ninth in class of the supercarriers - and had a crew of 5,680 sailors, an airwing of 2,480, and 80 warplanes.
The 101,000 ton, 1,092 feet long vessel is powered by two nuclear reactors - making her maiden active deployment in 2006.
Other crew members Patrick Gokey and Derrick Smith have also said they saw something that night aboard the USS Ronald Reagan.
Mr Gokey reportedly saw the object when it moved round to the rear of the ship flying in "half circles" before taking off "super fast".
And meanwhile Mr Smith, who was on the starboard watch, reported seeing the object and noticing "all the people on the flight deck" looking up at the phenomena.
The three shipmates have no idea what the strange object was - and Mr Olesiak claims they were told not to report the incident in the ship's log.
He puts this down to a culture of stigma within the US military when it came to reporting UFOs.
"There is an immune system against fairy dust in the military," he told The Sun Online.
What is going on with UFOs in the US?
UFOS have stepped from fringe conspiracy theories to a genuine national security debate in the US.
Pentagon officials took the unprecedented step to confirm a trio of remarkable videos which showed US encounters with UFOs.
The debate is still open as to what the phenomena caught on film were – but it made clear to everyone, something is in the skies.
Perhaps the most striking was a video known as the “Tic Tac” – which showed an unidentified object being pursued by fighter planes.
The US also confirmed the existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) – a Pentagon programme set up to study UFOs before being disbanded in 2017.
However, it was replaced by the UAP Task Force in June 2020 after a vote by the US Senate Intelligence Committee.
Defence chiefs have since confirmed a number of leaked UFO videos and photos which were submitted to the Task Force for investigation.
Why this sudden rush for transparency?
No one outside the secretive wings of the US government currently knows for sure.
And as a tacked on addendum to a 5,500 page Covid relief bill passed in December, the the Director of National Intelligence’s office was ordered to compile a report on UFOs within 180 days.
The UAP report dropped as expected on June 25, and while not giving much away - it did not rule anything out either as much of it remains classified.
The US appear to have acknowledged that UFOs - whatever they are - are real and are a potential threat to national security as they appear to be able to enter restricted airspace with total impunity.
Is it aliens? Officially the US position is simply, "we don't know yet" as further disclosure is expected in the coming months and years.
However, there is a disagreement between the three witnesses on the duration of the encounter - with accounts ranging from minutes to hours.
And the the exact date of the encounter is unknown - but it is believed to have occured in early 2004.
The incident occured while the new nuclear-powered carrier was undergoing a shakedown before being moved into active service.
Mr Olesiak was on watch from 8pm to 12am - and was responsible for the ship's logbook.
Documentary filmmaker Mr Beaty told The Sun Online: "After speaking with [the witnesses] in person I believe they were telling the truth to the best of their ability to remember what occurred.
"None of them had a clue what this thing was and to this day do not have any idea if it was man-made, a natural phenomena, or something truly unidentified."
He added: "More and more military witnesses are coming forward but I think back in 2004 there really was a stigma and resistance to report these incidents.
"Unfortunately today all military UAP encounters reported in the navy are considered classified."
And next Tuesday at 10am the House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence and Counterproliferation subcommittee will hold a public hearing on UAP.
Ronald S. Moultrie, under secretary of defence for intelligence and security, and Scott W. Bray, deputy director of naval intelligence, will both answer questions on the highly controversial topic.
US Congressman Andre Carson, the committee's chairman, said: "The American people expect and deserve their leaders in government and intelligence to seriously evaluate and respond to any potential national security risks - especially those which we do not fully understand."
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And US Congressman Adam Schiff added: "There's still much to learn about UAP and the potential risks they may pose to our national security"
He described the issue as the "one of the greatest mysteries of our time" and said he hopes to "break the cycle excessive secrecy and speculation with truth and transparency".