Could some of the world’s strangest unidentified objects be coming from the ocean rather than outer space? Retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet is asking that question—and his account reaches from classified military communications to an ambitious search for the lost city of Atlantis.
In an August 23, 2026 interview with Jesse Michels on American Alchemy, the former Navy oceanographer and acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) described reports of unusual objects around the world’s oceans, including an alleged pattern of sightings in five to seven regions. His claims are striking. But just how much of the underwater UFO story is documented?
Watch: Jesse Michels interviews retired Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet about ocean UAP reports, the 2015 Navy “GoFast” video and an Atlantis research effort. Original video: American Alchemy / Jesse Michels.
Featured image: Deep Blue Sea by Clayton Tonna / Unsplash. Illustrative photograph; not a documented UAP sighting.
The alleged five-to-seven ocean hotspots
One of the interview’s most intriguing moments comes when Gallaudet recounts information he says was shared through a classified email from a female Navy commander. According to his recollection, the communication discussed unidentified objects reportedly seen entering or leaving the water, with a higher concentration of sightings in five to seven locations around the world.
There is a critical detail here: Gallaudet did not present that email publicly, and the reported hotspots are not independently verified in the material provided. He also drew a distinction between concentrations of sightings and claims that there are alien bases beneath the sea. A cluster of reports—even if confirmed—would not, by itself, establish who or what is responsible.
When pressed for possible locations, Gallaudet mentioned the Atlantic and the waters around Southern California, but characterized his own guesses as tentative rather than a verified military map.
What the Navy’s “GoFast” video actually establishes
Gallaudet’s interest in the subject is not new. He previously described receiving a safety-of-flight email related to military training off the U.S. East Coast in 2015. He also testified at a U.S. House hearing in November 2024 about his experiences with unidentified anomalous phenomena.
The Pentagon officially released the “GoFast” footage in April 2020, confirming it was genuine Navy video. That confirms the recording’s origin—not an extraterrestrial explanation.
In a February 2025 case assessment, the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) concluded the object’s apparently extraordinary speed was an effect of the viewing geometry and motion parallax. Its identity remained undetermined, but AARO found no anomalous performance in the footage. Gallaudet acknowledged in the interview that the object was not necessarily flying exceptionally fast, while arguing that other reported encounters in the same training environment deserve investigation. Read AARO’s official case materials.
Submarines, strange objects and the evidence gap
Gallaudet also described accounts that he said came from Navy submariners and other personnel, including sonar encounters with objects behaving in unexpected ways. He discussed an alleged video of a teardrop-shaped object emerging from the water with little visible disturbance.
These are compelling interview subjects, but secondhand testimony and descriptions are not the same as publicly testable sensor records. Until the underlying recordings, instrument data and circumstances can be independently examined, claims about extraordinary undersea vehicles remain unconfirmed.
The conversation ventured further into highly classified underwater reconnaissance, experimental diving methods and speculation about a recovery connected to the 1962 Bluegill Triple Prime nuclear test. No authenticated extraterrestrial wreckage or conclusive public documentation was established by the interview.
And then there is Atlantis
As if underwater UFOs weren’t enough, Gallaudet said he has been advising a team investigating an Atlantic seabed region whose features, the team believes, resemble descriptions of Atlantis in Plato’s dialogues. He mentioned high-resolution bathymetric data—the mapping of the seafloor—and interest in a possible deep-sea expedition.
That is a proposed investigation, not an archaeological discovery. The team did not publicly identify a confirmed city, publish an independently verified excavation report or demonstrate that the location is Plato’s Atlantis. The possibility of an expedition makes an intriguing future story; it does not settle an ancient one.
Could Earth have hosted an earlier civilization?
The interview also touched on the Silurian hypothesis. In a peer-reviewed paper first published online in 2018, Gavin Schmidt and Adam Frank explored whether the geological record could preserve evidence of a hypothetical industrial civilization millions of years before humanity. The paper is a scientific thought experiment about detectability, not evidence that such a civilization existed.
Still, it points toward a worthwhile question: what traces would survive time, tectonics, erosion and deep water—and what measurements could actually distinguish artificial structures from natural formations?
The Apep Bar verdict: mystery is a starting point, not a conclusion
Here is what can be checked: Gallaudet is a retired Navy rear admiral who testified publicly about UAPs; the Navy’s “GoFast” recording is authentic; and the interview was released with claims about ocean hotspots and a possible Atlantis investigation. Here is what remains unproven: underwater alien bases, nonhuman craft operating from the seafloor, a verified extraterrestrial recovery, or the discovery of Atlantis.
The ocean is deep. The leap from unexplained reports to an alien metropolis may be deeper.
What would change the story? Release of the alleged hotspot records, independently reviewable sonar or video data, and published survey results from any Atlantis expedition. Until then, the central question is not whether we should investigate—it is whether the evidence can keep up with the extraordinary claims.
Question. Investigate. Reconsider.
Sources and further viewing
- American Alchemy: Jesse Michels interview with Tim Gallaudet (August 23, 2026)
- U.S. House Oversight Committee: UAP hearing and witness materials (November 13, 2024)
- U.S. Department of Defense: Official release of historical Navy videos (April 27, 2020)
- AARO: Official UAP imagery and “GoFast” case resolution
- NASA GISS: Schmidt and Frank, “The Silurian Hypothesis” (2018/2019)
