Aircraft
The Cole can make room for up to one Sikorsky-class SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter along a stern deck helipad.
Key Dates and Upgrades
The USS Cole was constructed by Ingalls Shipbuilding (now part of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding) of Pascagoula, Mississippi. She was ordered on January 16th, 1991 and laid down on February 28th, 1994. She was launched on February 10th in 1995 and delivered to the United States Navy on March 11th, 1996. Official commissioning occurred on June 8th, 1996. In 2013, the USS Cole is expected to receive upgraded missile capability to the RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) series as part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, a sort of mobile sea-borne protection net against enemy ballistic missiles with direction provided by the US DoD's Missile Defense Agency.
The Yemeni Bombing
While at anchor in the Port of Aden off of the Yemeni coast on October 12th, 2000, the Cole was approached by a small boat loaded with explosives. The boat was part of an Al-Qaeda cell targeting the American ship in Arabian waters. The suicidal crew - in true Al-Qaeda fashion - detonated their payload when alongside the Cole and ripped open a hole in her side, killing seventeen US sailors and wounding a further thirty-nine. While the cowardly act damaged the US Navy vessel and took the lives of some of her crew, her spirit was undaunted and she was still left relatively intact only to be hauled back to the United States for repairs. The Cole spent 14 months to be made whole again and was back in the water on April 19th, 2002, this time headed towards Norfolk, Virginia. She would deploy officially on November 29th, 2003.
It was not until November 4th, 2002 that some level of revenge was achieved. Ali Qaed Sinan al-Harthi - believed to be the mastermind of the USS Cole attack - was assassinated by the CIA by way of a Hughes AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missile launched via an MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle proving the old adage "You can run but you cannot hide".
On June 8th, 2006, the USS Cole made her way into Arabian waters for the first time since the attack, honoring her lost crew in true USN fashion as the vessel passed the Port of Aden. Since then, she has returned once more to Norfolk and set out yet again to actively patrol the waters off Lebanon. Once knocked down but far from out of the fight, the USS Cole treads on to this day.
It's All in the Name
The USS Cole is named after Sergeant Darrell S. Cole of the United States Marine Corps, a US service member killed in action on February 19th, 1945, at Iwo Jima in World War 2. The ship fights under the motto "Gloria Merces Virtutis" translating to "Glory is the Reward of Valor". The Cole makes her homeport out of NS Norfolk, Virginia.
Ongoing Service
February 2017 - USS Cole has been called to patrol off the coast of Yemen (Gulf of Aden) following a Houthi (Iranian-supported) rebel attack on a Saudi warship.
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