What "Odd" Sightings at Sea? Anyone ever encountered the "Flying Dutchman"...or seen the "Green Flash"?

2015-12-29T10:32:10-05:00

All sailors love a good "Sea Story"...some ring more true than others. What "odd" or peculiar encounters have my RP Shipmates had, and more importantly...dare to share?

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 29 at 2015 10:39 AM

2015-12-29T10:39:34-05:00

I'll open with one of my own-While on deployment in the Indian Ocean, I was on watch one night and marveling at the carpets of luminescent plankton well known in the region. One large section of glowing matter (about twenty feet in length) suddenly turned upon itself, and shot straight for the deep...as it was a solid, animate entity; giant squid? Sea Serpent? You decide.

Another, less eerie, but no less comedic event took place while navigating New York Harbor one foggy morning in 2004. As I looked for a contact off the port bow, a large, 18th century warship emerged from the gloom...As the Captain asked me, "What's the contact, Diz"...I cautiously responded, "Well...Sir...she appears to be-a pirate ship". Cap looked at me with one of those terrifying looks, "Mister...did you put something in your coffee this morning?" After I handed him the binoculars, he looked for himself, and slowly said, "Well...call 'em up and see who they are?". I cautiously called out over 16, "Unidentified sailing vessel off my port bow, this is Navy Warship 12. What are your intentions?" The radio crackled, "Navy Warship 12, this is HMS Rose, and we intend to maintain this tack". "HMS Rose, understood...thought for a second we were about to be boarded by pirates." I'll never forget the epic response,"Navy Warship 12...Negative, we're not a pirate, but we can board you if you think you're up for it!".

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 29 at 2015 11:55 AM

2015-12-29T11:55:31-05:00

Not a sea story, but something a land-lubber like me can contribute:
There is a village not far from Bagram - the name escapes me, entirely comprised of discarded connex boxes lined with mud to keep the heat down. In the middle of town is the world's biggest speed bump - a disabled T-55 that took up position in town and once rendered immobile no one had anything capable of towing it out of the town center. The Afghan solution: pave it over with a ton of asphalt. So to traverse the town, one needs to scale a six foot climb over the rear deck, avoid the turret protruding from the top, and descend the other side. It looks as ridiculous as it sounds.

A lot further up the Panashir Valley, in a place where no conventional forced ever trod, was a village we needed to assess. Surprisingly, every kid and many of the adults were Minnesota Vikings fans... adorned with t-shirts, hats, even one Randy Moss jersey. Some of the kids greeted us with "skol Vikings". Perplexed by this, we learned that they had been gifts from a stranger a few months prior. Apparently, some SF team had an embedded Vikings fan, and decided to indoctrinate a local fan club.

Response by Capt Mark Strobl made Dec 29 at 2015 11:56 AM

2015-12-29T11:56:58-05:00

No Flying Dutchmen. No Green Hornet. But, we that luminescent plankton would keep me entertained for hours. It was very much like watching a Pink Floyd laser concert sans music.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Dec 29 at 2015 12:58 PM

2015-12-29T12:58:59-05:00

In the dark ages when I started out as a Radarman (changed to Operations Specialist) we'd see weird stuff on the surface radar repeater and the deck watch would look and see nothing. Same thing the other way around. I do remember a sharp prominent point on Tiger Island that was a great radar fix until the New Jersey eliminated it.

Response by SN Greg Wright made Dec 29 at 2015 4:32 PM

2015-12-29T16:32:06-05:00

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member Saw a UFO down around Panama, once. Not saying it was aliens, but my first duty station was a major AF base (Yokota), and so I'd seen every kind of aircraft there was...and this wasn't one I'd seen.

Response by SN Greg Wright made Dec 29 at 2015 4:32 PM

2015-12-29T16:32:33-05:00

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member I've seen dolphins surf the bow wave many times.

Response by PO3 Brad Phlipot made Dec 29 at 2015 6:51 PM

2015-12-29T18:51:27-05:00

While sailing in the Mid to South Atlantic I was a topside watch in the conning tower of a sub running on the surface, stars as far as you could see and I was strapped off to one of the masts standing as high as I could get to enjoy the warm air and beautiful view. It was about 0200 and I was conducting a surface sweep with my binoculars when for just a moment both lenses went completely black, I lowered them and inspected them and rubbed my eyes so I could continue my sweep and in a slightly different location the same damn thing again. This time I got down into my watch station and asked the officer of the deck if he had any contacts on radar within 500yds, his reply was no and you better hope not. I thought for sure I was lacking sleep and went back up to do my job again and the same damn thing happened and this time I scurried down to the Officer of the deck and demanded he look at the location I saw my bogus contact. He replied back to me yes I see it, no worries she's been around for along time???? I did not say another word on watch again! To me it looked like an old Cruise Ship, no running lights notta. Upon being relieved I went below grabbed a coffee and ran down to the Torp Room for a shot to be added to my coffee.

Response by PO1 John Miller made Dec 30 at 2015 3:33 AM

2015-12-30T03:33:46-05:00

I've seen UFO's while standing bridge wing lookout. It was flashing multiple colored lights and was zig-zagging around way too fast and erratically to be an airplane (plus Combat didn't report anything on radar) though the OOD said "it's an airplane..."

I've also heard (multiple times) over Ship-To-Ship the infamous "Filipino Monkey."

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 30 at 2015 9:12 AM

2015-12-30T09:12:53-05:00

Made two trips through the "Triangle"...both times, we had some interesting experiences. On the first, we lost both EDGs the minute we got close to the Bahamas...and didn't get them back until we entered the Gulf. On the second, a clear, sunny day of about 76 deg F suddenly turned into a foggy, grey 58 deg. As we went along, the fog started to drop to the deck, then formed hundreds of miniature vortexes...like tiny tornadoes. Weird stuff.

Response by Capt Richard I P. made Jan 6 at 2016 10:08 AM

2016-01-06T10:08:56-05:00

I saw some remarkably strange heat signatures over the region of Marjeh, Afghanistan in the first week of the invasion around 2-5 AM on the thermal camera. I ruled out helos and fixed wings because they sat too still, I also ruled out aerostats because I hadn't seen any there in the day. Then my totally logical conclusion was that alien UFOs were monitoring the performance of the world's premier military in the closest thing to a pitched battle we'd had in years. Then I did some pushups and squats to wake up a little and decided I could probably see aerostats further away at night on a thermal than visually during the day and got back to looking for humans walking around close to our position.

Response by CAPT Hiram Patterson made Jan 6 at 2016 10:12 AM

2016-01-06T10:12:29-05:00

I have seen the Green Flash. I was on a dive boat on Guam in 1989 or 1990 returning from a mid-afternoon dive. As the sun just went below the horizon, there it was. Probably lasted for a second. I have never seen it anywhere since as the atmospheric conditions have to be just right. For all my Navy shipmates out there, I never seen the infamous mail buoy or bucket of steam!

Response by SSG Philip Evans made Jan 6 at 2016 12:46 PM

2016-01-06T12:46:15-05:00

I've seen the so-called "green flash" a number of times, both while at sea and on land when conditions are just right. It is an atmospheric phenomenon resulting from refracting sunlight at the instant the sun dips below the horizon that can happen under the right set of conditions and if you are in the right location to witness it.

Response by PO1 Corby Cox made Jan 7 at 2016 6:17 AM

2016-01-07T06:17:44-05:00

We had a ghost on the Will Rogers (SSBN-659). It showed up during an extended refit in Holy Loch. We were losing a/c every morning @ 0300. Every time it was due to a valve out of position. A buddy was SRW in ERLL one night when he noticed that the flood control door between MSW bay and condensate bay which he just walked though was shut with hoses laying on top. At that time he could here the R-114 groaning which is an indication of insufficient chill water flow. He went to check and it was at the low limit but it was fine when he just checked it. As he opened the valve he saw something go behind him and then around the outboard R-114. There was an electrical panel less than 2 inches behind him. That spooked him pretty bad. The next night I had the midnight and went down to ERLL to see the supposed ghost. As I was giving up to go back to upper level, I turned around and there was a short elderly looking shipyard guy with white hair and beard. He was just staring at me from 3 feet away. I was freaking out when he said "how's it going?" Boy was I relieved! I said I was fine and turned to fill out my logs then turned back and he was gone. I called Maneuvering and asked if anyone was in the engine room. They said no. Come to find out a shipyard worker was electrocuted on the R-114 15 years earlier.

Response by CAPT V L Cassani III made Jan 7 at 2016 7:23 AM

2016-01-07T07:23:46-05:00

SAW THE "GREEN FLASH" DURING A TRANSIT FROM GITMO TO JAMAICA AFTER REFTRA IN '75

Response by CPO Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 7 at 2016 8:50 AM

2016-01-07T08:50:07-05:00

I have witnessed "Green Flash." It was August 2007 in the Med. Myself and QMCS were on the starboard bridge wing. Funny enough we were discussing celestial navigation at the time. As the sun set on the horizon, we both watched the sun disappear, still talking about navigation. The flash lasted for an instant, and right after it happened, we both turned and looked at each other simultaneously with our eyes wide open as if they were going to pop out of our heads! Then I said, "Did you just see what I saw?" QMCS said, "HFS, green flash! I've only seen it once in my 25 years of being in the Navy." I said "Wow, this is my first ship and have only been on board 3 months." Needless to say QMCS did NOT like hearing that and proceeded to curse me out.

Response by PO1 Shawn Salrin made Jan 7 at 2016 12:06 PM

2016-01-07T12:06:04-05:00

The ship I was on was transiting back from GITMO following refresher training when I saw...something. The sea was calm, almost glass and it was bright and sunny. The forward lookout and I were enjoying the weather and keeping an eye out but there was nothing on the horizon. We were both looking astern at the rise and fall of the waves caused by the ships wake as it moved through the water. After a time we observed a large wave refusing to collapse and seemed to be tracking along the starboard side. It was about half the length of the Knox class frigate I was on and easily pacing the ship. This went on for at least three minutes with both the lookout and I staring mesmerized at the unnatural movement of the water in dead silence. Eventually the "wave" collapsed and the wake pattern returned to normal. The lookout asked me "Sal...should I report that?" I laughed and said "Report what?" "They're never going to believe either one of us."

Response by CDR Ed Griffith made Jan 7 at 2016 1:48 PM

2016-01-07T13:48:54-05:00

I saw the "green flash" but it is greatly exaggerated. I did not believe it at first. I was on the USS Midway (CV-41) in the Indian Ocean standing watch on the bridge. The waters were calm and we put our binoculars on the setting sun, about 1/5 set. Between about 1 and 3 o'clock on the sun there was a faint green glow extending about as far from the sun as its red glow for about 2 full seconds. It was not a flash and did not extend beyond the sun's glow. I waited to see if anyone else had seen it and the other members of the watch team also said they saw it between 1 and 3 o'clock. It did not seem unusual at all. A normal observer might just say it was a pretty sunset. Looking back, it is the most anti-climatic experience I had in 20 years in the Navy.

I have also seen luminescent plankton and the "Southern Cross" in Australia. Both were great, but seeing the bright stars at night on a ship deep in the ocean remains the most amazing fantastic thing I have ever seen.

Response by PO1 Scott Cottrell made Jan 7 at 2016 3:13 PM

2016-01-07T15:13:35-05:00

Green Flash is real, here on Kwajalein (Marshal Islands) we see it all the time. Not sure if it is because we are so close to the equator or what. But, people out here see it all the time.

Response by PO3 Rod Arnold made Jan 7 at 2016 8:01 PM

2016-01-07T20:01:10-05:00

Ok, here goes and this is the truth. We were steaming out of P.I. on our way to Vietnam. I had some free time so I went up on the main deck to look at the stars. I heard some splashes in the water, and saw flying fish jumping out and gliding across the water. All of a sudden this black flying thing swoops down and grabs a fish. Than another appeared, grabbing a fish. These black things were about the size of a pelican, and there were at least a dozen. The hair on my arms was standing up, I had never seen anything like this before. They flew so fast I couldn't tell what they were. Than a flying fish landed on the deck pretty close to me, and one of these black things land's just a few feet away. It had huge eyes, and they would look at me and than the fish. It began to crawl toward the fish it's mouth open I could see it's fangs.
It picked up the fish and flew off, making a strange noise. I had finely seen a Sea Bat!!! :-)