Are Underwater UFOs (USOs) Real? The Incidents That Keep Coming Back

The ocean is Earth’s biggest blind spot. Vast, dark, loud, and hard to monitor—perfect conditions for misread sensors, strange reflections, and stories that grow teeth over time. So when people ask, “Are underwater UFOs—often called USOs—real?” the honest answer is: the reports are real, the mystery is real, but the “what” is still up for grabs.

What’s changed in recent years is that USOs aren’t just a late-night radio topic anymore. The U.S. government’s modern term—UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena)—now explicitly includes “transmedium” objects and even submerged objects that can’t be immediately identified. aaro.mil

So let’s separate folklore from the best-documented cases—and pin them to dates, times, and sources.

First, what counts as a “USO”?

A classic UFO sighting is “something weird in the sky.” A USO claim usually means one of these:

1. An object seen entering the water (sometimes without a visible splash or debris)

2. An object seen exiting the water

3. A “transmedium” event—a sensor track that appears to move from air to sea (or vice versa)

4. Something detected underwater that’s not clearly a known vessel or natural phenomenon

Importantly, “unidentified” doesn’t automatically mean “alien.” It can mean drones, balloons, aircraft, optical illusions, sensor quirks, or misunderstood environmental effects—especially over water.

Case 1: The USS Omaha “Splash” video — July 15, 2019

One of the most talked-about modern “USO-style” clips is linked to the USS Omaha and dated July 15, 2019. The footage shows a small object moving over the ocean at night before appearing to drop into the water—often described online as a “splash” moment. Wikipedia+1

Why this case stays hot:

• It’s tied to a U.S. Navy context, not a random phone camera.

• It happens over the ocean, where depth and distance are notoriously hard to judge.

• The moment the object meets the water is ambiguous—some viewers swear it “vanishes,” others see normal loss of tracking or perspective issues.

The catch: a dramatic clip doesn’t automatically come with dramatic proof. A single short segment, without full sensor data and context (range, altitude estimates, system settings), can be misleading—especially at night over water.

Still, this is one of the clearest examples of why people say: “Okay… but what if something really can oper