In the early hours of October 26, 1962, at the height of the Cold War and during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States detonated a high-altitude nuclear device known as Bluegill Triple Prime. Conducted near Johnston Island in the Pacific, it was part of Operation Dominic—a series of atmospheric nuclear tests. On the surface, this test seemed like just another effort in a tense arms race. But in the days that followed, a strange sequence of events unfolded—raising questions that still remain unanswered over sixty years later.

Ship logs, official reports, and accounts from former U.S. Navy personnel suggest that Bluegill Triple Prime may have ended in more than just a mushroom cloud. Something was seen falling from the explosion. Something not listed in official inventories. And what followed—rapid command changes, secret salvage operations, and unexplained radiation exposure—points to a recovery effort of something highly unusual.

The story actually begins weeks before Bluegill Triple Prime. On September 19, 1962, during a separate test involving an Atlas 8F missile launched from Cape Canaveral, military cameras captured something extraordinary: a fast-moving object tailing a re-entry vehicle (RV) equipped with a dummy nuclear warhead.

The RV, traveling at nearly 20,000 feet per second, was supposed to be the only object remaining after decoys burned away during re-entry. But footage from that mission shows another object—one that maintained speed and proximity to the RV for 90 seconds.

NASA experiments were also aboard the Atlas 8F, but their equipment had already separated and was accounted for. This left one conclusion for those behind the scenes: an unidentified flying object had entered the test zone and followed a top-secret U.S. military asset through the upper atmosphere.

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The nuclear explosion took place at one minute past midnight on October 26. Logs show the ships were placed strategically close to the detonation’s Surface Zero. But what stands out is what was seen falling from the fireball.

Soon after the blast, eyewitness accounts and ship logs describe an object tumbling from the detonation area and splashing into the Pacific. Recovery ships immediately began collecting debris, but their activities weren’t routine.

While instrumentation pods from the test were accounted for by 9:00 a.m., ships like the USS Safeguard and USS Engage continued recovery efforts all day. Their logs describe unusual objects retrieved from the ocean—some highly radioactive.

In particular, a “green tube” with abnormal radiation levels was collected. Another vessel, the USS McCain, recorded retrieving a floating object but didn’t specify what it was. At one point, items were transferred between ships via small boats or “highline” cables—a method typically reserved for delicate or highly secure items.

What followed was even stranger.

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By November 3 and 4, the recovery fleet had anchored 25 miles southeast of Johnston Island—almost directly over the point where the object was seen falling. Divers were deployed, anchor chains were extended, and mysterious maneuvers filled the logs. One entry even notes a 100-fathom anchor payout—suggesting the ship was staying in deep water much longer than planned.

Later, logs from November 6 show another barge arriving—a covered lighter, typically used to conceal sensitive cargo. Shortly after, the fleet reversed course and returned to Pearl Harbor.

Despite the low-yield nature of the final nuclear tests, radiation levels among the crew of the Abnaki and Tuscumbia were abnormally high. Every member of Tuscumbia’s nine-person crew showed higher-than-expected exposure.

One sailor aboard the Abnaki logged radiation levels of 2.5 roentgens per hour—dangerously high for a vessel with no official role near radioactive material.

The official explanation never came. These exposures were simply left unexplained in post-operation reports.

More than a decade later, in 1976, a chance encounter at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base gave a name and voice to this mystery. Former U.S. Navy sailor David Noble Whitecrow recalled meeting a retiring Boatswain’s Mate Chief. The Chief claimed he had been part of a top-secret salvage mission during the final days of Operation Dominic.

His story aligned closely with known events. As a young diver, he was sent to investigate an unknown submerged object. Upon reaching the ocean floor, he was stunned by the size of what lay ahead. Initially thinking it was a coral cliff, he soon realized it was something else entirely—smooth, curved, and massive.

When he reached out to touch it, his hand passed into the object—as if it were made of jelly. The structure then lit up, illuminating the seabed. He panicked and was pulled back to the surface, vomiting inside his helmet. The next day, he was medevaced to Pearl Harbor.

According to the Chief, the object later rose from the ocean, glowing with a soft phosphorescence before silently disappearing beneath the surface. Divers and ships had reportedly marked its position, but it was gone before salvage could be completed.