onr_ph1.pdf

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY 
OF"FICE OF" NAVAL RESEARCH 
ARLINGTON. VIRGINJ.lo. 22217 
Information Sheet 
Philadelphia Experiment; UFO's 
Over the years the Navy has received innumerable queries about the 
socalled •Philadelphia Experiment" or "Project" and the alleged role 
of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in it. The majority of these 
inquiries are directed to the Office of Naval Research or to the Fourth 
Naval District in Philadelphia. 
The frequency of these queries predict-
ably intensifies each time the experiment is mentioned by the popular 
press, often in a science fiction book. 
Tne…

P~rsonnel at the Fourth Naval District believe that the questions 
surrounding the so-callec "Philadelphia Experiment" arise from quite 
routine research which occurred during World War II at the Philadelohia 
Naval Shipyard. 
Until recently, it was believ~ that the foundatio~ for 
the apocryphal stories arose from degaussing experiments which have the 
effect of making a ship undetectable or "invisible" to magnetic mines. 
Another likely genesis of the bizarre stories about levitation, telepor-
tation and effects on human crew members might be attributed to experi-
ments with the generating p…