USS Princeton (CG-59)

“USS Princeton (CG-59) is a Ticonderoga-class cruiser guided-missile cruiser serving in the United States Navy.”

“Armed with naval guns and anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine missiles, plus other weapons, she is equipped for surface-to-air, surface-to-surface, and anti-submarine warfare.”

“The Princeton was the first Ticonderoga-class cruiser to carry the upgraded AN/SPY-1B radar system.”

“The USS Princeton was part of the Nimitz Carrier Battle Group, during the period of approximately 10-16 November 2004 while completing Tailored Ships Training Availability (TSTA) in preparation for their deployment to the Arabian Sea.”

“The CSG was comprised of the following ships and submarine: USS Nimitz (CVN-68), USS Princeton (CG-59), USS Chafee (DDG-90), USS Higgins (DDG-76), and the USS Louisville (SSN-724).”

“The USS Princeton on several occasions detected multiple Anomalous Aerial Vehicles (AAVs) operating in and around the vicinity of the CSG.”

“The AAVs would descend "very rapidly" from approximately 60,000 feet down to approximately 50 feet in a matter of seconds.”

“On 14 November after again detecting the AAV, the USS Princeton took the opportunity of having a flight of two F/A-18Fs returning from a training mission to further investigate the AAV.”

“The USS Princeton took over control of the F/A-18s from the E-2C Airborne Early Warning aircraft and vectored in the F/A-18s for intercept leading to visual contact approximately one mile away from the AAV”

“The only participants in the events surrounding the detection and intercept of the AAV are the USS Princeton, VAW-117, VMFA-232, and VFA-41.”

“Senior Chief {{redacted: ~1 word}} added that based on his experience, which is 17 years as a Fire Control on Aegis cruisers, the AAV exhibited Ballistic Missile Characteristics in reference to its appearance, velocity, and indications on the radar.”

“Since the radar was in the mode to handle Air Intercept of conventional aircraft it never obtained an accurate track of the AAVs and was quickly "dropped" by the radar meaning it was eliminated by the computer to reduce the amount of clutter on the radar, as any other false target is handled.”

“They were detected three separate times during the week operating off the western coast of the United States and Mexico.”

“The Tactical Air Officer onboard the Princeton could not identify the radar contact and given the high speed and altitude was perplexed.”

“He did not see the object on his radar (raw video) until the USS Princeton directed the contact and gave the E-2 the general direction to steer its radar.”

“Additionally, the target was so low and the return was so faint that without the inputs from the USS Princeton the return would have been missed/ignored.”

“Although initially requested by the USS Princeton to attempt a track of the object, the USS Princeton took control of the F/A-18s and the E-2C remained Airborne but was no longer involved in the contact or control.”

“After they completed their training the E-2C controller handed them off to the USS Princeton callsign 'Poison' where they received vectors via Bearing Range Altitude Aspect (BRAA) to an unknown contact flying into the working area from the south.”

“Poison asked what ordnance they had on board. LT {{redacted: ~1 word}} told Poison control that they had two captive training AIM-9Ms (CATM-9) and no other ordnance.”

“All of the AAV activity was reported to VADM Curtis by the Commanding Officer, USS Princeton and Commanding Officer, VFA-41.”

“That's a cruiser. It's a cruiser... It has a helicopter pad on the back.”

“It's got an incredible SPY-1 system, phased array, four panels. So it looks in quadrants.”

“they started noticing on November 10th that there is a few objects flying around at 28,000 feet with speed of what I guess is considered a low speed of 120 miles an hour... on the coast of California.”

“they kept detecting these objects for just about a week. Then comes in like your part of the story, which is on November 14th”

“they're calling ranges, they're called BRA calls, bearing range and altitude. And they're telling us, hey, it's at 40 miles or 50 miles and 40 miles and 30 miles.”

“the ship is like probably 60 miles away, so it can't see the surface.”

“there's a story that both on the Nimitz and the Princeton, folks in a helicopter landed, they showed up, they took the data... No, no one came out on a helicopter.”

“Back on board the USS Princeton in the Combat Information Centre everyone in the room was tense, listening to both fighter pilots' increasingly stressed communications over the speaker system. Five radar operators were each tracking the event in real time, imagery from the Princeton's multiple sensor systems displayed on their screens in front of them.”

“Right at that very moment the 14 other unidentified targets on the Princeton's radar screen were also tracked plummeting from above 80,000 feet towards the ocean.”

“Fravor and his wingman were told by the Princeton to fly to a prearranged rendezvous point 100 kilometres distant, which was known as the 'cap point'.”

“Over the previous four days, the Princeton's Operations Specialist Senior Chief Kevin Day...was increasingly concerned by anomalous radar tracks he and his team detected on their screens.”

“the Princeton's Operations Specialist Senior Chief Kevin Day, who was in charge of coordinating the systems that protect the entire carrier group”

“Inside the USS Princeton's Combat Information Centre astonished operators watched as, once Fravor and his wingman returned to the USS Nimitz, in a fraction of a second, the swarm of other objects that had descended towards the ocean shot back above 80,000 feet.”

“He verified what he saw on the Princeton's CEC, the Cooperative Engagement System, which took all the radars from every source and merged them into one picture.”

“A former Petty Officer Jason Turner, on board the USS Princeton in 2004, claimed to have seen a fuller version of the video on a console monitor in what is called the ship's Signal Exploitation Space.”

“The morning after the dogfight, Senior Chief Kevin Day went to the USS *Princeton*'s communications room to get a copy of the radio communications from the previous day so that he could get the data he needed to write up an after-action report.”

“But he was shocked to learn that the data for the Tic Tac encounter had been wiped. 'As it turns out, all of our comms had been erased. Now, every time you key a mic on the ship, it stamps the optical disk with a date and time stamp. All the date and time stamps were there but the actual comms were all missing.'”

“On board the *Princeton*, Gary Voorhis was also ordered to turn over the data tapes from the ship's Combat Engagement Centre”

“USS Princeton Petty Officer Gary Voorhis checked the radar system for false returns. It was recalibrated and no problems were detected.”

“Late on that 14 November morning, in the Princeton's Combat Information Centre, Senior Chief Day again saw a cluster of 14 unidentified objects on his screen”

“About 2 pm that afternoon the pilot of an FA-18 Hornet, Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Kurth, was directed by the Princeton to the closest UAP on their radar screen.”

“it was actually the accompanying Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Princeton that was providing air defence protection with its then brand-new SPY-1 Aegis radar system”

“The Princeton has a passive electronically scanning radar system, which provided 360-degree coverage for the entire carrier group”

“For nearly two weeks leading up to the incident, the radar operators aboard the *Princeton* had regularly logged UAP activity in the air surrounding the vessels. Over one hundred UAP.”

“They performed acrobatics that would challenge any aircraft the radar operators had ever seen.”

“a state-of-the-art SPY-1 radar-equipped missile cruiser called the USS *Princeton*”

“At the time the incident took place, the *Nimitz* and the *Princeton* traveled close together. The other vessels were otherwise occupied.”

“By then, many crewmen aboard the *Nimitz* and the *Princeton* had shared the video via the government’s classified email system.”

“My flight of 2 F/A-18Fs was the Blue Air, the good guys, and we were being controlled by the USS Princeton, CG-59.”

“As we launched off the USS Nimitz, we checked in with the air controller on the USS Princeton, we were told that training was going to be suspended for real world tasking. My wingman joined up and we proceeded towards a contact to the west of our CAP (Combat Air Patrol) point.”