|
USS Cole sets sail again
Godspeed....
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArti cle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149188350117&path=!news&s=104 5855934842
USS Cole gets heartfelt sendoff
Well-wishers recall bombing as ship sails for the Middle East
BY BILL GEROUX
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jun 9, 2006
NORFOLK -- The destroyer Cole sailed for the Middle East yesterday for the first time since the 2000 terrorist bombing in Yemen that killed 17 sailors and nearly sank the ship.
The Cole slid away from Pier 5 at Naval Station Norfolk without fanfare. About 100 families and friends of the crew bid farewell from the pier -- a typical crowd for the departure of a small Navy warship.
But the deployment was not typical. "I would just like to say that my heart is with each and every crew member," said Kate Brown, whose 19-year-old son Patrick Roy died on the Cole, in an e-mail message.
"I'm glad the Cole is going over there," said Heather Davis, standing on the pier and waving to her fiancé on the deck. "The Cole needs to be out there, it needs to be seen" by America's enemies, she said. "We need to get in their faces."
Davis, a former Army ammunition specialist who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the Cole is much better protected now than it was 5˝ years ago, though total safety is impossible under the rules of engagement.
On the morning of Oct. 12, 2000 -- less than a year before the terrorist strikes in New York and Washington -- the Cole was refueling in the harbor of Aden, Yemen, when two suicide bombers guided a skiff alongside the hull of the 500-foot warship and detonated a cache of explosives.
The explosion tore a hole in the hull near the water line and killed 17 sailors. The crew saved the ship from sinking, and the Cole was repaired and sent back to the Atlantic Fleet.
The Cole deployed to the Mediterranean for six months in 2003 but is returning to the Middle East for the first time, as part of the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group. It was the last of five ships to leave Hampton Roads with the strike group this week.
The Cole's commanding officer, Cmdr. Bradley W. Roberson, told reporters on the pier, "I think the ship is well-prepared to defend itself and to protect others." He would not say whether the ship would revisit Aden, Yemen, nor would he discuss any changes in refueling procedures.
None of the current officers or crew of the Cole was aboard in 2000. For some of their families, the Cole's history was secondary yesterday to the gloomy prospect of six months' separation.
"I'm very scared," said Janet Irwin, whose son Jason, an engineman on the Cole, was going to sea for the first time. But she would be scared no matter what ship he was on, she said. "He's very proud to be part of the Cole."
Two tugboats guided the Cole away from the pier and out into the channel, where it turned and headed out to sea behind the destroyer Bulkeley. Some of the Cole's 323 crew members manned the rails in their dress whites.
Davis said that as a veteran she found it satisfying to see the Cole re-entering the fray. "But as a wife-to-be, it's going to be a long six months."
__________________
My Heroes wear camouflage.
|
Linear Mode
