Chilean destroyer encounter (1969)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 24 October 1969, shortly after midnight |
|---|---|
| Location | Off the Chilean coast, after leaving Talcahuano |
| Vessel | An unnamed Chilean Navy destroyer |
| Reported | A radar contact that split into six objects, one larger than the ship |
| Source | A Chilean informant, via an Australian researcher; Water UFO catalog |
| Claimed follow-up | Witnesses questioned by Chilean officers and four Americans in civilian clothes |
| Status | Single-source account; no navy record found |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 73 |
| Year | 1969 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1969 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 6 |
According to the testimony this article draws on, a Chilean source reported that on 24 October 1969 a Chilean Navy destroyer was approached by six unidentified objects, one of them larger than the ship itself.[1] The account was published by an Australian UFO researcher, who said the source had spoken to him directly. The testimony describes that researcher as having previously vetted Australian government sources properly.[1] It appears on the Water UFO website, which catalogs sea-related sightings.[1] A Chilean news report later retold the story with more detail, including claims of a cover-up involving American investigators.[2] No Chilean Navy record or independent account of the encounter has been found, and the ship and witnesses have not been named publicly.[1][2]
The account
According to the Chilean newspaper El Ciudadano, citing the website UFO Insight, the encounter began shortly after midnight on 24 October 1969. A Chilean Navy ship was off the coast after leaving the port of Talcahuano, where it had been repaired.[2] In that account, the events unfolded as follows:[2]
- A single radar contact suddenly broke into six separate objects.
- One was described as larger than the destroyer, perhaps twice its size.
- The five smaller ones were said to be egg-shaped with a blue exterior.
- As they approached, three passed to the ship's port side and two to starboard.
The report says the witnesses were later questioned by a group of two Chilean Navy officers and four American men in civilian clothes. It presents this as evidence that the United States had its own people interview the crew, and calls the episode a military "cover-up".[2] These details come from a single retelling, and have not been checked against navy records.[2]
Talcahuano
Talcahuano, in south-central Chile, is home to Chile's main naval base, the submarine fleet and the ASMAR shipyard. The base also houses the historic ironclad Huáscar, a British-built Peruvian ship captured in 1879 during the War of the Pacific.[5] A ship leaving the port after repairs would have been entering the open Pacific.[2][5]
Official UAP study in Chile
When the encounter reportedly took place, Chile had a government body studying such reports. The Chilean Commission for the Study of Unidentified Space Phenomena was created on 9 July 1968 under the National Meteorological Office, after sightings at Arica that March, and it worked until 1975.[3] Its successor, the Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena (CEFAA), was set up on 3 October 1997 under the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, part of the Chilean Air Force. It has since been renamed the Section for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena (SEFAA).[3] CEFAA has published some cases. In 2014 it officially classified as unexplained a silver disc photographed by 35 workers at the Collahuasi mine in 2013. Its director said only about 3 percent of reports since 1998 had been officially recognized as UFOs.[4] No published CEFAA or SEFAA material refers to the 1969 destroyer case.[3][4]
Context
The story is one of many reports of unidentified objects near ships. When such objects are said to enter the water they are often called USOs, unidentified submerged objects.[6] The U.S. Navy uses the term for things such as whales and other sea creatures that interfere with ships and sonar, while ufologists, including the retired admiral Tim Gallaudet, use it for objects said to move between air and water.[6]
Assessment
The case rests on a single unnamed informant, relayed by an Australian researcher, and on a later press retelling.[1][2] The ship is not named, no crew member has come forward publicly, and no Chilean or American record of the radar contact or the interviews has been found. It remains a single-source account.[1][2]
People and topics
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
On the Timeline
- National Bureau of Standards 1943 UFO claim (1969) — A former intelligence officer tells Vallée the National Bureau of Standards studied UAP as early as 1943.
- Torbitt Document (1970) — Author 'William Torbitt' claims a group ran counterintelligence for advanced aerospace programs.
See every 1969 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- waterufo.net · waterufo.net · archived copy
- Incidente OVNI en Chile: revelaciones de un "encubrimiento" militar en 1969 (El Ciudadano) · elciudadano.com
- Sección de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos (Spanish Wikipedia) · es.wikipedia.org
- Dirección de Aeronáutica Civil oficializa avistamiento de OVNI en el norte de Chile (BioBioChile, 2014) · biobiochile.cl
- Talcahuano · en.wikipedia.org
- Unidentified submerged object · en.wikipedia.org
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia articles “Sección de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos (Spanish Wikipedia)”, “Talcahuano”, “Unidentified submerged object”, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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