I seem to remember that there was a navy firing exercise happening near the flight path. There was also a radar track of a drone (target) crossing the path of TWA800. If the transponder on TWA800 was tampered with then it would have looked like a target to the navy missile.
As to the Navy witnesses You really only have to account for a handful. The guys down in the engine room do not see what goes on above decks. People spend their time doing their jobs and never see the results of the missile launch. They would be told that they had a successful test and that would be all they knew. It’s relatively easy to keep ten or twelve guys silent, especially when they couldn’t see that it was a jetliner they shot down.
While there were multiple navy ships in the area, there was also a fast mover of some sort (again from the radar track) which (IIRC) was the likely shooter.
We need to find the Freeper research project again.
Oh, really? Could you please tell me what naval live fire range is located in the - checks notes - Long Island Sound, one of the most heavily trafficked marine and flight corridors?
You think a Ticonderoga-class cruiser is sailing along the northern shore of the Hamptons or off the coast of Connecticut or Rhode Island and the skipper looks at his XO and says, 'Hey, I got an idea: Why don't we fire a missile? That should be swell.."
Do you really think that's how it works?
"As to the Navy witnesses You really only have to account for a handful."
Is something that is so laughably stupid the only person who could believe such drivel must be a person whose only experience in the military is watching a Michael Bay movie. Missile tests are planed weeks, even months in advance. Everyone - literally every swinging 'd' on the ship - hears the captain bring the ship to general quarters and then hears the commands to ready the missiles and launchers. This isn't a surprise to anyone as they've all been briefed that the ship is going to have a live fire exercise that day and probably when they left port. Fire control teams muster at their stations in complete fire control gear and then everyone awaits to hear the launch command, the launch status and then the command to secure from general quarters.
Honestly, I cannot believe some of the idiocy people believe. It's insane.