A series of mysterious UFO sightings in the waters off Southern California in 2019 were reportedly launched from a Hong Kong cargo ship.
The Drive reported it obtained documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act that include detailed briefings and photographs from more than a half dozen incidents assessed by the Navy to involve intelligence collection operations apparently operating from an unresponsive civilian ship shadowing Navy vessels close to a sensitive naval training area near the Channel Islands on July 15, 2019.
The initial report of the 11 drone clusters was reported by sailors on the USS Bunker Hill, the documents obtained by The Drive showed.
Another Navy ship — the USS Paul Hamilton — that was headed to Long Beach, California, also documented drones about their ship, with an internal report concluding the unidentified aerial vehicles were likely used "to conduct surveillance on US Naval Forces," The Drive reported.
The new records also indicate at least two other significant drone swarm events occurred in the waters off Southern California earlier in 2019, the news outlet reported. The first incident was on March 30, 2019, when the USS Harpers Ferry, an amphibious dock landing ship, reported seeing as many as eight unknown drones flying about 500 feet directly over the ship.
A month later, the USS Zumwalt, the Navy's most advanced surface combat ship, encountered six drones on April 24, 2019, that crossed the flight deck, the news outlet reported.
The spying drones were not unique.
Together, the U.S. Navy had at least eight distinct encounters with groups of multiple drones in the waters off California in 2019, The Drive reported, based on the documents it obtained.
"Active surveillance of key naval assets is being conducted in areas where [the Navy] train and employ their most sensitive systems, often within close proximity to American shores," The Drive reported, adding: "Espionage collected in these areas is of extreme value to potential adversaries and poses a serious and ongoing national security threat."
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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