aircraft carrier passing by STT right now

It isn't moving. Just sitting there. No visible lights now. You can barely see it with the naked eye. If any other northside STTers care to take a peek, from Mahogany Run I'm seeing on the water's horizon halfway between Hans Lollik and the Tobagos.

Navy ships come here all the time. My husband first came to STX on a ship 20 years ago. I sure do love those sailors. Wave to them for me.
Tam

It's still there-- don't think it's an aircraft carrier. Too many towers and things. Boy, it's big! Now I'm really curious to know what it is. Perhaps a research vessel? I can't make out many details because it's too far away.

Hey Jules,
Don't know what it is, but its been there for two days at least. We can see the lights from our bedroom window. I'm curious also.

Hi Jules.

We looked with our telescope and it's HUGE. It doesn't look like an aircraft carrier because it has some (three?) cranes spaced along its massive deck, but it's not a modest ship with a crane like the one that's been puttering around the STT harbor. Whatever it carries, it looks like it stores its cargo below an enormous, flat deck. We'd love to know what it is, why its here and why it hasn't moved for a couple of days!

I thought it might be the Danish Research Ship Galathea 3 but I checked online photos of the ship and it's not.

http://www.onepaper.com/stthomasvi/?v=d&i=&s=News:Local&p=1153550222

Heck, I was on the north side today & didn't even look.

If it is not a Navy aircraft carrier, it is probably of the class of "container transports
that come mostly out of Asia. They have an overall length of over 390 meters. (that's well over 1200 feet) I think that is longer than any aircraft carrier (about 1100 ft) and all cruise ships that come to STT. The largest cruise ship that comes "in" is the QM2 which is about 1132 ft. Most other cruise ships are 900 ft or less.

If it's a container ship then the containers are below deck.

To be clear on this!!! I have word that this is the ship on it's way to the West Coast to pick up the remains of the aliens from area 52 and their mother ship.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

That's area 51 buddy!!! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_51

Years ago, a rig like this was out there for months. They were drilling for oil. Maybe they are back!

RL

I like the mobile oil rig theory. The "rear", which is to the west, is many stories high and has lots of lights. There is also at least one crane-like thing on the "front" or east side. Yesterday morning when the sun came up a little the shape appeared to be something other than a straight oblong thing. It looked like the rear end took a southward angle. It almost looked like two ships abutting at right angles but it's hard to tell from this distance. Maybe that would fit with some sort of two-part mobile oil drilling thingie.

I emailed the VIDN to ask them who/what it was but haven't heard back. I'm so used to googling for immediate answers when some silly question gets under my skin so it's strangely frustrating to not have an immediate answer to this one!

I bet some of the charter fishing people would know what it is since those deep sea boats fish out there.

Thanks Ronnie, I had my landings mixed up. I wasn't wearing my tinfoil hat at the time.

Smear Vaseline on the windows, PG - it stops the rays from coming in. Also, if you act nutty enough, your local PD will come through your house and wave a radar gun around - that seems to hold the aliens at bay for a while....worked for me when I was an officer......

Seriously, has anyone figured out what this could be? Could it be a salvage ship of some sort, resurrecting something from the deep blue? I would think something like that would be newsworthy, though....just curious from afar.....

I sure hope the oil drillers aren't back; I would hate to end up with coastal oil platforms!

Jules - in the middle of weedwhacking right now, came in for a quick break - but have you tried contacting either The Daily News or STT Source?

I emailed the Daily News yesterday but have heard nothing. I may try them tomorrow. I'll also try the Source. Will report back tomorrow--

Well, so far no news but I might have an answer this afternoon.

Called the Daily News; the person I spoke to said that they just became aware of it and have sent someone to get more information. I'll call them again this afternoon. Tried the ST Source and Coast Guard but got machines.

There was a Danish research vessel here a week or so ago but by the pictures it looks much smaller than what's out there now.

Hey Jules, Can you post a picture of what's out there now? I wanna see : - )

Jules,

Your efforts to track down the identity/purpose of this vessel are greatly appreciated.

Afternoon update: A VIDN reporter spent the morning trying to get information. He said the US armed forces Southern Command says that there are no US naval ships in our area. The reporter said it could be a foreign military ship. It is definitely not the Danish research vessel that was here last week. He is going to continue looking for information. He asked for its position and my view vantage point and is considering sending a photographer out to get a better look.

I tried taking pictures with my inexpensive digital camera but at that distance and zoomed to that degree it's just some lighter-colored pixels.

I guess for now it remains a UFO (unidentified Floating object) 🙂

For anyone who wants to (try) to see it, I'm looking at it from Mahogany Run (downisland side). From my condo the ship is on the water's horizon almost exactly halfway between Hans Lollik and the Tobagos. You can *barely* see it with the naked eye. With my field scope a few details can be seen. The rear is many stories high. There are one or more vertical somethings towards the front. The ship seems to be angled a bit because today I'm not seeing it longways or endways. The first day I saw it turned with its length towards me and the front part looked long and flat, perhaps 3-4 times as long as the rear tall part. The flat part seems higher off the water than would be expected of an aircraft carrier. At night there is a bank of really bright orange lights at the rear/tall part.

Well, that's just a little scary if you think about it a while.....it's out there and no one knows what it is? Would you say it is most likely outside American waters?

Wonder if any of the pilots or boat captains that do charters that direction could help?

A well placed cruise missile will take care of any potential threat. I believe in acting first asking questions later.

I guess it's not in US waters. It's probably 30-40+ miles out.

I posted some fuzzy pictures if anyone wants to see. It's much more impressive than it seems in these photos. Hopefully the VIDN will shoot some better pics.

Overview shot of ship's location:
http://jcgardner.smugmug.com/gallery/1832729#141394416-L-LB

Blurry zoomed shot with my dinky digital camera:
http://jcgardner.smugmug.com/gallery/1832729#141394446-L-LB

Blurry but larger shot taken by holding my camera to the eyepiece of the spotting scope:
http://jcgardner.smugmug.com/gallery/1832729#141394433-L-LB