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CNN Live Today

USS Cole Sets Sail Again

Aired April 19, 2002 - 12:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Eighteen months after terrorists blew a huge hole into the Navy's USS Cole, killing 17 Americans, the ship is now fully refurbished. This hour, the Cole set sail with 17 stars added to its deck, one for each victim killed. CNN's Brian Cabell is in Pascagoula, Mississippi for the Cole's departure.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, it's been a very long 18 months since that explosion in Yemen, but as you can see the Cole is already at sea. It is ready. It is better than ever according to the crewmembers, the captain who we talked to yesterday. It is heading out to sea right now, out of Pascagoula to rejoin its battle group in Norfolk, Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Before there was September 11th, there was October 12th, 2000, the day the USS Cole was hit by suicide bombers while in port in Aden, Yemen.

JOHN DEANGELIS: A huge explosion, the whole ship rocked up, a big 27 inch color TV landed in my lap, and we were all immediately, there was 15 people in the room, and immediately we were running out the door to go help our shipmates and save our ship. We knew something was wrong.

CABELL: Seventeen crewmen were killed, 37 injured, and a nation mourned. But the crippled destroyer with a 40 by 40 foot hole in its hull was transported back to the states. It was repairable.

COMMANDER STEVE METZ: A brand new ship today costs over a billion dollars, and the repair bill for this is in the $250 million range.

CABELL: It took 14 months to replace 550 tons of steel plating and 275 miles of cable. The mess deck and the galley virtually destroyed, looked new again. But there are reminders. The flag the Cole was flying on October 12th, a plaque commemorating those who were killed, and 17 stars, one for each victim on the deck.

DARREN JONES: I used to play a little game with myself and say all their names every time I stepped on a star.

CABELL: Darren Jones was onboard the day of the explosion. He's still there, but that awful hole is gone and the USS Cole is ready to head back to sea.

JONES: I think this is a message of what kind of country we have, and what we're willing to do to keep our ships fighting at sea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABELL (on camera): Of the 350 crewmembers onboard, about 40 of them were onboard that fateful day some 18 months ago in Yemen. We talked to some of them yesterday and they say for the last several months, there has been a time of mourning for them, but also as they say, among the Navy it is time to get back to work, and they are getting back to work, as you can see right now.

They are headed to Norfolk. They should be arriving there in about six or seven days, we are told. They'll undergo some training. They've already undergone sea trials, and this ship apparently did exceptionally well.

They will head over to Norfolk. They will rejoin their battle group, undergo training for the next several months, and then they will redeploy in the summer of 2003. Exactly where in the world, we don't know, but the USS Cole 18 months after hit by that-being hit by that explosion in Yemen is now back at sea right up here off the coast of Pascagoula -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Brian, you mentioned some of the sailors you talked to expressed that they wanted to hurry up and get back on the job, getting back on the Cole. But any express to you any real trepidations or anxiety about getting back on board again?

CABELL: Of those that we talked to, absolutely not, Fredricka. They said yes, there were times when they worried about what had happened when they thought about the people they had lost. In fact, they said this was a very close tight knit ship, tight knit ship, 350 people on board. They knew virtually all of them. But as to the structural integrity of the ship, absolutely not. They say the ship is absolutely better than ever.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, Brian Cabell from Pascagoula, Mississippi.

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