Yemen is the Defense Fuel Support Point that had been open just over a year. It had been used 12 times in the year before, usually when an oiler was not part a battle group. The fueling point is in the center of an industrial harbor and consists of concrete pilings built specifically for commercial refueling. The piping runs under the harbor and the fuel is taken directly form those pipes.

COLE completed mooring operations at 9:30 a.m. Refueling started at 10:30 a.m. Later, a small boat approached the COLE.  At 11:18 a.m. Bahrain time (3:18 a.m. EDT), when the small boat was situated on the port side of the destroyer an explosion occurred causing a 40-foot by 40-foot gash in the port side of the COLE. Damage control efforts to manage flooding in the ship's engineering spaces were reported successful that evening. Divers have conducted preliminary inspections of the hull and said the keel is not damaged.

USS DONALD COOK (DDG 75) and USS HAWES (FFG 53) were making best speed to arrive in the vicinity of Aden that afternoon providing repair and logistical support.  Additionally USNS CATAWBA (T-AFT 168), USS CAMDEN (AOE 2), USS ANCHORAGE (LSD 36), USS DULUTH (LPD 6), and the USS TARAWA (LHA 1) arrived in Aden some days later, providing watch relief crews, harbor security, damage control equipment, billeting, and food service for the crew of COLE.

The explosion killed 17 of COLE's 320 sailors and injured 39 others. The injured sailors were brought to the Army's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center near Ramstein, Germany, and were later flown to the US.

Security rules in effect the day the USS COLE was attacked by terrorists in Yemen required the crew to take special precautions against approaches by small harbor craft - of the kind that sidled up to the COLE and detonated a bomb - according to Pentagon counterterrorism guidelines.
"Shipboard terrorist threatcon measures," described in a Pentagon document that came to light during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in late October, included the following precautionary measures for ships operating at the threat level that existed on Oct. 12, the day of the attack:

Harbor craft "require special concern because they can serve as an ideal platform for terrorists."
Unauthorized craft should be kept away from the ship; authorized craft should be carefully controlled and monitored.

Crews for picket boats should be designated and placed on 15-minute alert. "If the situation warrants, make random picket boat patrols in the immediate vicinity of the ship." The picket boat crews should be armed with M16 rifles, one M60 with 200 rounds of ammunition and 10 concussion grenades.

Fire hoses should be prepared for use in repelling small boats or boarders.
A sailor who was on watch aboard the Cole, for example, told CBS News' "60 Minutes" on Sunday that he noticed the small boat approaching but assumed it was among the authorized harbor craft that normally approach a Navy ship in port to assist in disposing of its garbage and performing other routine services.

A heavy lift ship, the BLUE MARLIN, was contracted to bring USS COLE back to the U.S. The process of placing COLE onto the Blue Marlin took place on October 30, after the USNS CATAWBA had towed the COLE out of Aden harbor to deeper water. The operation of returning the destroyer to the U.S. took six weeks and cost about $4.5 million. Once COLE was secured aboard the BLUE MARLIN, some of the crew were flown home although some essential personnel remained with their ship for the transit.
On November 9, 2000, the Navy announced that Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., would repair USS COLE. BLUE MARLIN and USS COLE arrived there on December 13, 2000. COLE's industrial availability began in January 2001 and was expected to take about one year to complete. The Navy estimated that the repairs would cost an estimated $240 million. In fact, repairs were completed much earlier and COLE was relaunched at Ingalls on September 14, 2001.
 
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