Circle over New Orleans, LA

The report, as filed

I was in the Coast Guard in New Orleans in 1980. I was stationed at the Coast Guard base on the industrial canal. It was a Sunday and I had watch. My watch included walking to the docks and ensuring the vessels were properly tied off. I had the 0800-1200 watch. The weather was clear with no visible cloud deck, the temperature was 70-80 degrees. While I was walking on the dock, I stopped and talked to two other coast guardsmen who I had known from Bootcamp. One was fishing around the docks and the other was going to relieve me in the next hour or so. While we were standing there talking I noticed a slight line in the sky approximately 20 yards away and a 50 degree angle south. I focused on the line and realized it was a small (4-5 foot diameter) disc rotating. The bottom and of the disc was the same color as the sky. The top of the disc during a slight uneven rotation was dark. The line was the slight uneven rotation appearing like a line. I pointed to the object and offered simple orientation verbiage until both of the other men saw the object. For the first two or three minutes we stood and stared. I asked the men to describe the object in as much details as they could. The object was within 20 yards of our location and clearly visible. In fact I commented that if I had a sidearm, I could easily shoot it. There appeared to be small circular deviations in the surface below the center of the widest part of the diameter. We discussed the lack of sound, vapors, lights or purpose for the small circles. We discussed the possible propulsion system and observed no evidence to indicate a source. At that time I begin to use common aircraft taxiing signals to attempt to communicate with the object. The airplane signals were not responded to however, when I started using helicopter signals the object would respond by descending in small movements to the landing signal. At that time we observed the upper portion of the object was dark in color similar to the color of the water. I attempted other common movements including pointing, waving and signal the object to come closer without response. According the one of the men, we had at that time engaged the object for 15-16 minutes and the only response had occurred from the helicopter signals. I moved closer to the object until I was at the end of the dock and my position was approximately 10 yards from the object and it was at about 75 degrees. I continued to describe the physical characteristics of the object. When the two other men moved toward the end of the dock, the object moved rapidly to the west until it disappeared. We used dead reckoning and all measurements in angle or degrees are approximate. We report the incident to the Watch Commander and met with an officer from the Air Force. He listened to our statements and advised us “to forget about it because by the time we were debriefed we wouldn’t know our own family.” This is a discrete incident and I have conveyed the complete event. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #124583). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.