UFOs that buzzed U.S. Navy warships off California coast in 2019 were spy drones from Hong Kong cargo ship

U.S. Navy warships that were visited by UFO’s while cruising off the California coast in 2019 had a close encounter with drones from a Hong Kong cargo ship, the military has finally revealed.

It is unknown at this time if the ship was commissioned, operated or owned by an entity connected to the People’s Republic of China.

The story was reported by the military hardware news site, The Drive Friday evening and subsequently reported on by the U.K. Daily Mailearly Saturday morning.

The close encounters occurred on various occasions between March 30, 2019 and July 30, 2019 and as many as seven different warships were involved.

The use of drone technology has become popular with superpowers who have the ability to use the technology. On May 19 The Drive reported that the U.S. was testing similar drone technology in simulations that would be purportedly used against China in the event of an attempt to invade Taiwan.

In the July 2019 incident however, one of the U.S. Navy warships referenced in an official memo that was effected noted, “Bass Strait likely using UAVs (unidentified aerial vehicles) to conduct surveillance on US Naval Forces.”

The UFOs were a nationwide mystery and covered by last year’s Congressional hearing on 'unidentified aerial phenomena'.

That hearing reviewed a preliminary assessment drafted by the Office of the Director of National Incident (ODNI) and covered 144 incidents in which pilots, military personnel and other witnesses observed credible events with UFOs. Of the 144 incidents, only one was explained as a weather balloon. The others remain a mystery.

On Friday, The Drive published new information from documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act that finally identified the unidentified flying objects in the 2019 California Pacific incident.

Specifically, the U.S. Navy reportedly determined that twice on July 15, 2019, vessels reported drones in the airspace above them, and they were believed to launch from a nearby Hong Kong-flagged bulk carrier, MV Bass Strait. The military has described them as 'quadcopter style UAS' (unmanned aerial systems).

The first incident was recorded by the USS Bunker Hill, which encountered as many as 11 drones in its nearby airspace as high 21,000 feet.

Efforts for the naval vessel to make contact with the Hong Kong cargo ship were ineffective, and by 4:15 a.m. the Navy utilized a SNOOPIE team (Ship Nautical Or Otherwise Photographic Interpretation and Exploitation) to investigate the encounters.

\Those sightings continued for several hours until 10:40 a.m.

At dawn on that same day, another warship, the USS Paul Hamilton on its way to Long Beach, California, also called up a their SNOOPIE team at 5:11am.

The USS Paul Hamilton reportedly made visual contact with the Hong Kong cargo ship 3.5 miles away and encountered several drones flying above.

The Navy’s report described the  cargo ship as using UAVs (unidentified aerial vehicles) “to conduct surveillance on US Naval Forces.”

The Daily Mail has reported that “the owners and operators of MV Bass, Hong Kong-based Pacific Basin, have refused to comment.”

The Daily Mail further noted that, “the information is likely to raise significant concerns in the Pentagon, and heighten existing fears. In February 2021, Marine General Kenneth McKenzie Jr. said that drones are 'the most concerning tactical development since the rise of the improvised explosive device in Iraq.”

In a shocking new development that occurred on July 21, 2019, it was learned for the first time, a U.S. naval warship, the USS Russell, fired five at the UFOs (in this case what turned out to be UAV drones) after the military deployed one of its elite ‘ghostbusters’ teams to jam the radio frequencies between the drone and its operator.

That particular incident, which reportedly involved drones that could fly at 45 mph and up to 100 miles away from their origin occurred in a restricted U.S. Naval training area known as the Channel Islands.

The public was originally under the impression that these so called 'tic tac' shaped drones had appeared only for a few days in July 2019, but the new revelations make clear the Navy had these encounters throughout the entire month.

The Drive also reported that the drones linked to the Hong Kong cargo ship were not the only ones the Navy encountered.

Earlier that year in March 2019, in the same California waters, the USS Harpers Ferry reported as many as eight unidentified drones hovering above their ship at about 500 feet, “conducting collection operations.”

Unlike the July 2019 incident, in which the drones were traced to the Hong Kong cargo ship, the Navy was unable to detect the origin of these UAVs.

In April 2019, USS Zumwalt, commonly known as the world's largest and most advanced destroyer encountered six drones hovering above in a “consistent pattern” that did not change “course, speed, or altitude.” Again, the origin was not identified.

There was no reported or known activity for the months of May or June. Then finally in July, the Channel Island incidents with the USS Russell and Paul Hamilton occurred.

Subsequently on July 25 another warship, the USS Gabrielle Giffords detected four drones above, and asked for assistance from a nearby vessel, the USS Pinckney.

The Drive reports that the USS Russell encountered five drones with lights in a three-hour period again on July 30, 2019. The USS Paul Hamilton also encountered several drones that same day.