Harry A. Jordan
U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt CVA-42
Testimonial for Senate UFO Hearing — Summer 1998
From 1961 to December of 1965 I served in the United States Navy aboard the destroyer escort U.S.S Laffey, destroyer U.S.S. Loeser, and the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Franklin D. Roosevelt CVA-42. I served in the Operations Intelligence Division on all three ships. My duties within O.I. Division were to display, analyze, report, and record radar, radio, and electronic emission data within the Combat Information Center. I was trained on Radar and Electronic Counter Measure equipment for both passive and active systems at the Naval station in Newport, Rhode Island in 1963.
I served two Mediterranean cruises aboard the Roosevelt during a period from 1962 to 1964. Upon discharge from active duty I was assigned to the Jones Point Naval Reserve Training Station in Alexandria, Virginia as an instructor. I trained enlisted as well as naval officers on the use of navigation equipment and reporting methods particular to radar intelligence. I served as a recognition expert. I could detect with various electronic equipment, air to surface contacts while at sea, land or in the air. The equipment aboard the Roosevelt could detect surface or air contacts from 300 miles depending upon their height.
Late one night while operating off the coast of Sardinia at approximately 0200 hrs. Zulu time I was standing mid watch on a SPA-8 repeater and height finding equipment. My IFF box was enabled and in the process of challenging an aerial contact approaching the ship from a bearing of 012 degrees relative to our course. The aerial contact was detected at 600 miles according to the calibration rings on my scope. I made several adjustments to the calibration settings because I didn’t believe I detected such a contact at that distance. The aerial contact was at a height of 80,000 then dropped to 65,000 feet in about 20 seconds where the contact then hovered for about ten minutes.
During this period the watch officer woke the Division Commander and informed him of our situation. U.S. Naval Task Forces operating in the Mediterranean in those days were being subjected to frequent fly overs by Russian Bear aircraft with electronic warfare capability. It was my job to stay alert for such a scenario. The Division Commander came into CIC observed the radar returns, expedited his own ECM scan of the contact and then informed the orderly standing watch at the Captains stateroom. The Captain was appraised of the situation, ordered a course change into the wind and increased ships speed to launch aircraft. During this time I was continuing to observe the contact and watched the Phantom F4B’s once they attained sufficient altitude. The Phantom’s went to after burners vectoring to a course straight for the bogey on my scope. After a period of about 15 to 20 minutes the F4B’s were within 200 miles of the bogey due north of our course. They turned on their conical scan radar, the bogey disappeared from my scope. The pilots did not detect any contact on their scope were turned by the Air Ops C.O. and headed back to the ship. The Captain had kept the ship on a heading into the wind during this entire operation so aircraft could be launched or recovered at will. The Phantom’s returned to the ship and were recovered. About five minutes after the recovery of the last aircraft and during the process of turning the ship back to our original course the contact winked back on again! This time it closed from a distance of 600 miles from the ship to right above us in about 10 minutes. The bogey was traveling around 3600 miles and hour at an altitude of 30,000 feet. I never saw any heat signature. Someone in CIC yelled out, “dam it what the hell is that!” I couldn’t determine who made the comment. Lookouts on the port and starboard look out wings of the conning tower could not see anything above the ship with their binoculars. The situation was bizarre and watch personnel looked scared but calm.
Watch logs are always kept particularly when a critical situation is underway. General Quarters practice drills are another matter but this wasn’t a practice drill. The Captain did not call General Quarters. I recall vividly when it was first determined how unusual the situation had been. My division C.O. (Commander Gibson ~USN) asked me what I had put in my log if anything. He said to me “Jordan, this never happened” ( I was reminded of that comment when I first saw the movie “Red October”). I replied “yes sir”. I never mentioned anything to fellow sailors or anyone else until years after my Honorable Discharge from the Navy. I was Honorably Discharged from the Navy in December of 1967 at Jones Point Naval Training Center in Alexandria, Virginia.
On watch that night were a plotter on the DRT, one on the VG, myself on the radar scope and the watch officer. It was my distinct impression from hearing the airmen aboard during chow time that they were confused about why the heck they would have such an unscheduled launch and not be told what had been going on that night. It was their duty to arm aircraft, etc. to me they had been obviously kept in the dark on this one operation. I never said anything to them about what happened that night. During active duty I stood lookout watch night and day. I logged well over 1000 hours operating radar equipment and standing watch during my active duty with the sixth fleet. What I experienced that night will never be forgotten. What I have experienced since discharge from active duty has became more fascinating as the years progressed.
In 1985 I met Dr. John Kasher a physics professor at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. He was a consultant at Lawrence Livermore Labs in California and presently a summer consultant on plasma physics at Huntsville for NASA. He is currently the State Director for the Mutual Unidentified Flying Object Network of Nebraska. Dr. Kasher and I have personally investigated over 50 cases related to UFO’s. These cases involve people from age 5 to 70’s. We have video tapes of private interviews, physical trace cases and lab reports. Some of these cases involved events which occurred on the ground simultaneous with STS-NASA missions. There are uncut, unenhanced video tapes produced by live-real-time NASA select 6 camera shots taken aboard the space shuttle. At present, cameras aboard the shuttle are monitored, the video signals are delayed several seconds and sometimes minutes before being fed to public video feed networks. Immediately after the STS-48 mission UFO mission flap in which Dr Kasher and I were involved, NASA began to delay the live feed. Their premise for altering the video coverage of each mission was that they didn’t want the world privy to the medical condition of the astronauts. This is pure hogwash as never has the medical condition of the astronauts been public knowledge through video monitoring to public channels. We have a copy of the original NASA directive which went out from NASA to all ground facilities the day after STS-48 the UFO flap.
The UFO’s which currently fly on station when the shuttle is up are being fired upon by high performance aircraft using state of the art particle beam weapons. The very character of a particle beam does not need an atmosphere to be seen it imparts its own coherence upon the vacuum of space. We have video tapes of STS-missions as recent as STS-80 during the month of March 1997 wherein one can clearly see these beams coming up from the earth through he cloud cover below the space shuttle. What concerns us most here from our personal field experience is that out of all our private interviews with eye witnesses not one instance of a negative or sordid nature has been told to us. Virtually all close encounters on the ground have been very passive, bizarre and extraordinary to ordinary people whatever “ordinary” means these days is another matter. It is with great concern for our fellow Americans and citizens of the world at large we question the reasons for why UFO’s are being fired upon. What the federal government of the United States of America knows about UFO’s is not being shared. I question the current status of this posture and reasoning behind it. These matters might well be beyond knowledge of the Senate, Congress and perhaps even the President of the United States. If public hearings were held regarding these scenario’s there will be some red faces at the Pentagon and NASA regarding the issues of UFO’s and the reality of their occupants. Many decent law abiding Americans have had real experiences and are prepared to come forward to share proofs. The truth needs to be brought forward without further hesitation.
Harry Allen Jordan MFA—BFA USN Service Number 589-92-03