USS Franklin D. Roosevelt sighting (1958)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | October 1958 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Nuclear & missile sites (topic), Military encounters (topic) |
| People | Chester Grusinski |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 62 |
| Year | 1958 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1958 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 5 |
Chester Grusinski, a sailor aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42) from 1958 to 1960, later said that in the autumn of 1958, while the ship was near Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, he and many shipmates saw a cigar-shaped, orange object hovering close to the carrier at night. He spent decades trying to verify his sighting.[1][2]
The sighting
Grusinski, then 18, said the carrier was on a shakedown cruise in the Caribbean when he was told to go on deck to see something strange. A small light had been following the ship; it headed straight for them, growing bigger and brighter, and he described it as a bright white ball — he later noted it as cigar-shaped — about 75 to 100 feet long, which turned red-orange so that he could feel heat on his face. He said the sailor on watch shouted into the intercom for an officer, that he could see the silhouettes of figures looking at them, which he did not think were human, and that the object then left at great speed. He made a drawing of what he saw.[1][2]
Grusinski's research
From the 1960s to the 1990s Grusinski corresponded with other officers and crew of the Roosevelt, with UFO researchers and with government agencies. Some former shipmates reported UFO experiences of their own, while others said they knew nothing of any such incident. He also collected material on the ship's commanding officers in 1958, Captain Ralph L. Shifley and Commander Charles L. Burbage, and on a reported sighting aboard the carrier during the NATO exercise Operation Mainbrace in 1952. He was interviewed for a MUFON newsletter, featured in several Michigan newspapers and appeared on the television program Sightings.[1][2]
The papers
In December 1995 Grusinski donated his papers — 52 items including his drawing, correspondence and articles — to the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation collection at East Carolina University's Joyner Library, where they are open to researchers and partly digitised. He died in 2016.[1][3]
Assessment
No Navy record of the sighting has been released, and the case rests mainly on Grusinski's testimony; his own correspondence shows that other crew members' recollections were mixed. It is one of many reports of UAP near Navy ships, a subject Congress later asked the Pentagon to investigate.[1][2]
People and topics
- U.S. Navy — The U.S. naval service, whose pilots reported the UAP encounters revealed in 2017.
- Chester Grusinski — Navy veteran who described a cigar-shaped object near the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1958.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
On the Timeline
- Hunter AFB "UFO crash" letter (1958) (30 October 1958) — An Air Force colonel writes about a 'UFO crash' near Hunter AFB, Georgia.
- Airline pilots and the "Big Brother" gag rules (1958) (21 December 1958) — About 50 airline pilots criticize the Air Force's UAP gag rules as 'Big Brother'.
See every 1958 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Chester C. Grusinski Papers (#677-039), East Carolina University Joyner Library · digital.lib.ecu.edu · archived copy
- "USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1958", NICAP · nicap.org · archived copy
- Chester Grusinski obituary, Dignity Memorial · dignitymemorial.com · archived copy
- Article on the FDR sightings — Real TV UFOs · realtvufos.blogspot.com · archived copy
- nicap.org · nicap.org · archived copy
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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