Operation Highjump was commanded by Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, lasted six-months (Aug 1946 – Feb 1947), and included 4,700 armed personnel, thirteen ships and thirty-three aircraft. Still classified and officially titled the United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program, their covert mission was to seek out and destroy an alleged subterranean South Polar colony established by Germany, before and during WW2, which not only harbored thousands of scientists in a semi-secret secluded base, but free energy technology and advanced propulsion craft (UFOs).