15 June, 1968. 3.30am. DMZ Viet Nam. Navy ship HMAS Hobart hit during Vietnam UFO encounter?

Mysterious lights had been seen near the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and a call had gone out by the US military for all available allied warships in the area to be assigned to patrol off the DMZs coast. At around 3.30am, the HMAS Hobart detected an aircraft approaching. The ship was attempting to contact the aircraft when a missile slammed into it, killing one sailor and injuring two others. Seconds later two more missiles hit killing another sailor and injuring several more. Sadly investigations revealed later that they were struck by US fighter planes whose pilots thought they were firing at mysterious lights. However, no one could ever find out where the lights came from or what they were and there was no large offensive linked to the lights. In August 1968 the Royal Australian Navy News confirmed that extensive reconnaissance produced no evidence of enemy helicopter operations near the DMZ.

The late General George Brown, Commander of the US Seventh Airforce at the time of the incident, was later quoted as saying, “UFOs plagued us in the Viet Nam war. They weren’t called UFOs at the time, they were referred to as “enemy helicopters”. They were only seen at night and only in certain places. The Australian destroyer was hit but there was no enemy at all involved but we always reacted. It was always after dark”. The origin of the mysterious lights was never determined.

The HMAS Hobart was scuttled on 12 May, 2000 and now sits on the ocean floor as a dive wreck at Yankalilla Bay, South Australia within the Encounter Marine Park. The wreck site is officially known as the Fleurieu Artificial Reef.

Various sources at http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case60.htm