October 25, 1973, North West Cape, Exmouth, Australia
1915 hours (approx). A Lt. Commander in the U.S. Navy observed a large black, airborne object at a distance of approximately 8 kilometers to the west at an altitude estimated at 600 meters. The Lt. Cmdr. was driving south from the naval communication station towards the support township of Exmouth, along Murat Road. The officer reported that after about 20-25 seconds the craft accelerated at unbelievable speed and disappeared to the north. The officer, who had never experienced anything like it, said the craft made no noise or exhaust. At the base, Fire Captain (USN) Bill XXXXXX also saw the extraordinary craft five minutes later. He had been instructed to close the Officers club and proceeded there in the Fire Dept. pick-up 488, when his attention was drawn to a large black object, which at first he took to be a small cloud formation, due west of Area ‘B’. He couldn't help but be attracted by this object's appearance. On alighting from the pick-up, he stood and watched this black sphere hovering in the clear and pale blue-green, cloudless sky. The object was completely stationary except for a halo around the center, which appeared to be either revolving or pulsating. After watching it for approx. 4 minutes, it suddenly took off at tremendous speed & disappeared in a northerly direction, in a few seconds. He estimated the object to have been approx. 10 meters in diameter, hovering at 300 metres over the hills due west of the base. Previously, on October 11, five days after the Middle East War had broken out, the North West Cape along with other U.S. bases in Australia were put on full alert. This fiasco climaxed early on the morning of October 25, 1973, in Washington D.C., when a full nuclear alert went out to all U.S. forces. North West Cape was used to communicate the alert to both conventional and nuclear forces in this region. The acute security alert status "Def Con 3" was reached. [All this during peak of sightings 1973 wave *