Off Gibraltar: Soviet tanker Gori and Egyptian freighter see rotating metallic disc
In June 1984, at 4:10 p.m., watch officers of the Soviet tanker Gori, 20 nautical miles east of Gibraltar, watched a round metallic disc with counter-rotating segments pace their ship and hover over an Egyptian freighter, which confirmed it by radio.
Background
At 4:10 p.m. seaman Alexander Globa and mate of the watch Sergey Bolotov, beginning their watch on the Soviet tanker Gori in the Mediterranean 20 nautical miles east of Gibraltar, saw what looked like an airplane with landing lights approaching at about 4,920 feet, 2 miles away. It was shaped like an upside-down frying pan, shiny and metallic, emitting bright irregular flashes; within two minutes it reached the ship, turned south and paced it for 3 minutes. The perfectly round object, about 75 feet across, had a black spot underneath and a cylindrical 'tailpipe' where two counter-rotating segments met. At 4:20 p.m. it flew to an approaching Egyptian cargo ship bound for Greece and hovered over it; Capt. Sokolovsky radioed the vessel, which confirmed the UFO. After 90 seconds it returned to the Gori, climbed at 40°–45°, veered right and disappeared, after 12 minutes in all. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.