Determined Warrior
Some 20 years ago today, on 12 October 2000, while she was being refueled in Yemen’s Aden harbor, the Ingalls-built Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Cole (DDG-67), was attacked by terrorists who left 17 sailors dead and 39 others seriously injured, damaging the ship to the point that she was almost lost.
Her crew endured, and the lessons learned from that attack have helped mold current DC and topside security protocals.
Today, almost a quarter-century after her commissioning, USS Cole is still very much on active duty.
An extensive tour of the “Determined Warrior,” below:
Thank you for this! COLE and STARK are both examples of determined crews who worked wonders in damage control and saved ships that easily could have been lost. I hope and pray that our current sailors are receiving excellent damage control training and are taking those lessons to heart. A fire, collision or other accident in “peacetime” is more likely than enemy action, and a crew of “DC monsters” may be needed to save a ship and crew.