US Navy ship once mistook Venus for UAP – Fired 300 rounds
At present, balloons and unidentified flying objects are making a sudden appearance throughout the world. In addition to four reported cases of objects being brought down over the US and Canada, China has declared that it is prepping for its own interception in air space while Uruguay’s Air Force is actively researching reports as well as images displaying gleaming lights above the Termas de Almirón region.
In response to this, the United States Naval Institute chose to divulge its own anecdote about a particular craft that approached a Navy ship in 1945 (or maybe as early as 1941 — depending on who you ask).
According to the US Naval Institute, a captain aboard the USS New York witnessed a mysterious sphere cruising in the sky and, assuming it was any of Japan’s balloon weapons, immediately commanded for its takedown.
On December 9th, 1941, Lanson B. Ditto was onboard the USS Langley when they suddenly spotted a plane. In shock, over 300 rounds were fired before realizing it wasn’t an enemy aircraft but simply a celestial object instead! As reported by Mr. Ditto himself: “About noon on December 9, 1941 we were steaming south on open seas when a plane was sighted.”
Since “Chinese Spy Balloon” is trending: In 1945, the crew of USS New York spotted a sphere that they thought might be a Japanese balloon weapon. The captain ordered it shot down but none of the guns could score a hit. Finally, a navigator realized they were attacking Venus. pic.twitter.com/aKwedtrr2G
— U.S. Naval Institute (@NavalInstitute) February 3, 2023
“We opened fire at what we thought was the altitude of the plane. We had to estimate. We set a fuse to go off at an estimated altitude. We started out at 5,000 feet and could see that it was coming up short, so we raised to about 7,500 feet and could see that it was short, too. So, we raised it up to the maximum of 10,000 feet.”
Despite their best efforts, the team still failed to hit the mark and it’s not shocking considering they were aiming a whopping 50 million miles short.
“Pretty soon, word came down from the navigator,” he added. “It was determined that this was the planet Venus. It turned out that we had fired 300 rounds at the planet Venus.”
Ditto went on to sink twice during the war, once on the USS Langley, and survived both.
“Recently, I’ve seen satellite pictures of the planet Venus, and I noticed pockmarks,” he reflected later. “So maybe we did hit our target.”
