Kevin Thomas and the Nimitz black triangle
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 9
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| Witness | Kevin Thomas, former Navy combat photographer and petty officer, USS Nimitz |
|---|---|
| Date | 1991, at night, during "darken ship" |
| Object | A huge black triangle, half out of the water about 200 yards away; he estimated it as larger than the carrier |
| Behaviour | Silent; rose 30–40 feet and was gone |
| Aftermath | Questioned next day by two men in civilian clothes |
| Account given | Quest TV, Contact, October 2022 |
| Corroboration | None |
| Topics | Military encounters (topic), Ocean & underwater (topic) |
| People | Kevin Thomas, David Fravor |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 108 |
| Year | 1991 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1991 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 5 |
Kevin Thomas, a former U.S. Navy combat photographer, said in a television interview released in October 2022 that in 1991, while serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, he saw a huge black triangle sitting half out of the water near the ship at night.[1][2] He said it rose silently and was gone. The next day two men in civilian clothes questioned him at length about what he had seen.[1] There is no official record of the sighting, and no other crew member has publicly confirmed it.[1][2]
The sighting
Thomas's account, as given to Quest TV:[1][2]
- Darken ship. The ship had gone to "darken ship", when "everything gets turned off. There can be no light anywhere on the ship." He had gone outside after his shift to watch the sunset, and found the bulkhead door locked behind him, so he decided to "ride it out out here".
- The triangle. On the starboard side he "looked around the corner and there was something about halfway out of the water. It looked like a huge black triangle." He estimated it was "bigger than the Nimitz at about 200 yards away". It looked "clean" and dark "with no water dripping off it", and made no sound.
- Departure. "It probably raised up about 30–40 feet, and then it was gone."
Other descriptions differ in detail:
- Curiosmos. It placed him on the fantail, and said the object surfaced, flew into the air and "disappeared into space".[2]
- A social media post. Promoting the interview, it said the ship had been ordered to clear the decks and Thomas was "accidentally left on deck". It called the object "a 1K ft. triangular UAP".[3]
The questioning
Thomas's account of what followed:[1]
- The visit. The next day "two guys" in civilian clothes, not uniform, came to his duty station. "My heart kind of stopped like 'uh oh, I'm in trouble.'"
- The questions. They wanted to know why he had been outside rather than in his quarters during darken ship, and "kept asking, over and over in different ways" what he had seen.
- His answer. He did not tell them, for fear of being thrown out of the military.
Earlier summaries said the men told him not to talk about it. The published accounts describe questioning, not an explicit order.[1] He said he felt able to speak only after the Navy's "Tic Tac" footage became public.[1]
The interview
Thomas told his story in Quest TV's Contact segment "USS Nimitz Witness Tells His Story For The First Time", released on 22 October 2022. The segment looked at UFO reports near oceans and lakes.[2] Clips of it circulated on YouTube as "New USS Nimitz Witness (Kevin Thomas)" and on social media.[3][4]
The Nimitz and "transmedium" reports
The Nimitz is best known in UAP history for the November 2004 "Tic Tac" encounter off southern California. In that event Commander David Fravor and other aircrew chased an object first tracked by the cruiser USS Princeton, and an infrared video of it became public in 2017.[5] Thomas's sighting, if accurate, came 13 years earlier.[1]
His story is one of a number of reports of large objects emerging from or entering the ocean near Navy ships. In 2020 the news site The Debrief reported a claimed Pentagon photograph of a black triangle rising out of the ocean off the U.S. east coast, said to have been taken from an F/A-18 cockpit. The Pentagon has not confirmed the photograph exists.[1] Officials who read a UAP Task Force report said it focused on "Unidentified Submersible Phenomena" or "transmedium" vehicles, and was concerned that some objects might be "originating from within the world's oceans".[1]
Assessment
Thomas's account rests on his own recollection, given about 31 years after the event.[1] The problems:
- No corroboration. No other crew member, deck log or official report has been produced, and by his account he was alone on deck.[1][2]
- Varying details. Retellings differ on the object's size, his position on the ship, and whether it rose a few dozen feet or flew into space.[1][2][3]
People and topics
- Kevin Thomas — Navy photographer who described a black triangle rising from the sea near the USS Nimitz in 1991.
- U.S. Navy — The U.S. naval service, whose pilots reported the UAP encounters revealed in 2017.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Nimitz Tic Tac encounter — The November 2004 encounter between Navy pilots and a white Tic Tac-shaped object off California.
- David Fravor — Navy pilot who saw the 2004 Tic Tac object.
- AARO — The Pentagon office set up in 2022 to investigate UAP.
- Transmedium — Able to move between air, space and water.
On the Timeline
- Radio caller's underground base claim (1991) (1991) — A radio caller claims he wired a deep underground site holding military personnel and creatures.
- Valdamar Valerian's Matrix books (January 1991) — A writer using a pseudonym publishes books claiming 'grey aliens' are involved in human affairs.
See every 1991 event on the UAP Timeline →
Further reading
- USS Nimitz UFO incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
References
- USS Nimitz crewman reports huge triangle UFO in 1991 — BroBible · brobible.com · archived copy
- Former Navy officer recounts triangular UFO emerging from the ocean — Curiosmos · curiosmos.com · archived copy
- twitter.com · twitter.com · archived copy
- youtu.be · youtu.be · archived copy
- USS Nimitz UFO incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
Facts in this article are drawn in part from the Wikipedia article “USS Nimitz UFO incident”, 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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