WEBVTT 00:07.159 --> 00:09.609 Welcome to the Tides Of Time podcast 00:09.710 --> 00:11.599 where each month will embark on a 00:11.599 --> 00:14.090 journey through time . Join me as we 00:14.100 --> 00:16.459 dive deep into the pivotal moments and 00:16.469 --> 00:18.540 influential figures that have shaped 00:18.549 --> 00:22.500 the history of our Navy . I'm MC Two 00:22.510 --> 00:25.219 Carson and today we will be exploring 00:25.229 --> 00:27.659 the bombing of us S coal on October 00:27.670 --> 00:30.780 12th , 2000 . This attack exposed 00:30.790 --> 00:33.270 crucial weaknesses prompting a major 00:33.279 --> 00:35.439 evolution and navy damage control 00:35.450 --> 00:37.959 training . The bombing demonstrated the 00:37.970 --> 00:40.599 Navy's resilience and ability to adapt 00:40.610 --> 00:41.999 and respond to threats . 00:45.330 --> 00:47.520 This retelling of the attack on US S 00:47.529 --> 00:50.069 coal is based on historical events and 00:50.080 --> 00:52.270 accounts , but it has been dramatized 00:52.279 --> 00:54.759 for storytelling purposes . While 00:54.770 --> 00:56.714 efforts have been made to maintain 00:56.714 --> 00:58.826 accuracy , certain liberties may have 00:58.826 --> 01:00.881 been taken with timelines to enhance 01:00.881 --> 01:04.599 narrative flow . Listeners are 01:04.610 --> 01:06.610 encouraged to consult authoritative 01:06.610 --> 01:08.388 historical sources for a deeper 01:08.388 --> 01:10.221 understanding of the US . S Cole 01:10.221 --> 01:12.080 Furthermore , this retelling may 01:12.089 --> 01:14.145 contain sounds and words that depict 01:14.145 --> 01:17.029 violence , warfare and loss which may 01:17.040 --> 01:19.040 be distressing for some listeners . 01:19.300 --> 01:21.129 Listeners discretion is advised 01:24.550 --> 01:26.790 us . Navy officials in Bahrain today 01:26.800 --> 01:29.290 said suspected suicide bombs badly 01:29.300 --> 01:31.578 damaged in a terrorist attack in Yemen . 01:31.578 --> 01:34.050 American sailors were killed , injured , 01:34.120 --> 01:36.559 missing in Yemen . Today the US S coal 01:36.569 --> 01:38.569 was maneuvered aboard the Norwegian 01:38.569 --> 01:40.569 heavy lift vessel , Blue Marlin for 01:40.569 --> 01:42.680 transport back to the United States . 01:42.680 --> 01:44.680 Jackson County plans to give the US 01:44.680 --> 01:46.902 coal a warm homecoming . The Eagle ship 01:46.902 --> 01:48.902 was attacked in October the port of 01:52.000 --> 01:54.889 on August 8th 2000 under the command of 01:54.900 --> 01:58.040 Kirk S Lippold US . S Cole embarks on a 01:58.050 --> 02:00.139 deployment departing from Norfolk to 02:00.150 --> 02:03.199 traverse the Mediterranean Red Sea Gulf 02:03.209 --> 02:04.150 of Aden and 02:11.960 --> 02:13.940 the ship reaches Egypt and begins 02:13.949 --> 02:15.929 transiting the Suez Canal . The 02:15.940 --> 02:18.107 shortest maritime route from Europe to 02:18.107 --> 02:20.179 Asia crossing . The canal can take 02:20.190 --> 02:22.460 several hours or even days depending on 02:22.470 --> 02:24.710 the volume of ship traffic and the size 02:24.720 --> 02:25.720 of the vessel . 02:39.929 --> 02:42.040 General quarters , general quarters , 02:42.040 --> 02:44.096 all hands , manual battle stations , 02:44.096 --> 02:46.318 set material conditions even throughout 02:46.318 --> 02:48.596 the ship and make report to DC central . 02:49.070 --> 02:51.339 An unexpected fuel leak throws the ship 02:51.350 --> 02:53.830 into general quarters . The crew quick 02:53.839 --> 02:56.210 to respond . Sets zebra at less than 02:56.220 --> 02:58.880 eight minutes and 30 seconds . The fire 02:58.889 --> 03:00.722 party and engineering department 03:00.722 --> 03:02.556 secures the spill and cleans the 03:02.556 --> 03:04.722 affected area quickly . However , this 03:04.722 --> 03:06.778 incident leaves the ship low on fuel 03:06.960 --> 03:09.250 with no oil or ship nearby to conduct 03:09.259 --> 03:11.315 an UN repp . The coal is left low on 03:11.315 --> 03:14.039 options . After lots of discussion , a 03:14.070 --> 03:16.399 decision is made to refuel at a small 03:16.410 --> 03:17.690 port in aid in Yemen . 03:25.070 --> 03:27.320 Unaware of what lays ahead . Captain 03:27.330 --> 03:29.497 Lippold makes a critical decision just 03:29.497 --> 03:31.663 before mooring . He orders the ship to 03:31.663 --> 03:33.719 be turned around , positioning it to 03:33.719 --> 03:36.089 face away from the dock anticipating 03:36.100 --> 03:39.990 the unforeseen at 03:40.020 --> 03:42.429 930 local time , the ship completes 03:42.440 --> 03:44.496 their mooring and begins refueling . 03:44.496 --> 03:45.662 Only an hour later , 03:50.600 --> 03:52.767 the crew lines up on the mess decks as 03:52.767 --> 03:54.820 the co authorizes early child 04:01.440 --> 04:03.860 just outside the skin of the ship . Two 04:03.869 --> 04:06.300 barges depart the coal carrying waste 04:10.699 --> 04:13.449 48 minutes into refueling . At 1118 04:13.460 --> 04:15.729 local time . A skiff approaches 04:22.720 --> 04:24.776 the two men aboard the skiff wave to 04:24.776 --> 04:27.079 the crew who have no reason to suspect 04:27.089 --> 04:29.367 the danger lurking beneath the surface . 04:30.649 --> 04:32.959 Unbeknownst to them , the skiff carries 04:32.970 --> 04:34.989 over 1000 pounds of explosives . 04:36.750 --> 04:39.170 Then without warning , the two men 04:39.179 --> 04:41.346 aboard the skiff and detonate the bomb 04:48.049 --> 04:49.938 shattering the morning , calm and 04:49.938 --> 04:52.380 tearing a 40 by 60 ft hole in the ships 05:03.950 --> 05:06.119 in the chaos . Some crew believe it to 05:06.130 --> 05:07.852 be an explosion related to the 05:07.852 --> 05:10.630 refueling . The blast and impact 05:10.640 --> 05:13.450 immediately kill 17 sailors and injure 05:13.459 --> 05:15.950 many more . The main machinery room 05:15.959 --> 05:17.959 floods within moments , cutting off 05:17.959 --> 05:19.779 operations and communications . 05:25.260 --> 05:29.209 Yeah , thick acrid smoke 05:29.220 --> 05:31.429 fills the passageways , choking those 05:31.440 --> 05:34.109 who struggle to breathe amid the chaos . 05:34.119 --> 05:35.897 The ship is thrown into general 05:35.897 --> 05:38.063 quarters as every sailor aboard fights 05:38.063 --> 05:39.063 for survival 05:47.339 --> 05:49.283 with the ship filling rapidly with 05:49.283 --> 05:51.617 water and fire tearing through the hull . 05:51.617 --> 05:53.839 The crew's navy training and discipline 05:53.839 --> 05:56.609 become their lifeline for more than 96 05:56.619 --> 05:58.929 grueling hours . They fight unceasingly 05:58.940 --> 06:00.829 against extreme heat and mounting 06:00.829 --> 06:02.850 stress , dedicating themselves to 06:02.859 --> 06:05.589 relentless damage control . They battle 06:05.600 --> 06:07.767 tirelessly to restore stability of the 06:07.767 --> 06:10.010 ship's critical engineering systems a 06:10.040 --> 06:13.690 crucial component to its survival . The 06:13.700 --> 06:15.880 crew is left to rely on one another . 06:16.109 --> 06:18.220 Their courage tempered by the fear of 06:18.220 --> 06:20.165 the unknown . Even the most junior 06:20.165 --> 06:21.887 sailor among them steps into a 06:21.887 --> 06:24.429 leadership position as the sailors 06:24.440 --> 06:26.440 battle to regain stability amid the 06:26.440 --> 06:29.010 chaos . It becomes painfully clear that 06:29.019 --> 06:30.852 they're running out of essential 06:30.852 --> 06:33.140 supplies , food and potable water are 06:33.149 --> 06:34.309 nowhere to be found 06:37.160 --> 06:39.160 in the heat of this dire struggle . 06:39.160 --> 06:41.382 Every sailor who was evacuated from the 06:41.382 --> 06:43.579 ship was able to recover with one 06:43.589 --> 06:45.980 exception , operations specialist , 06:45.989 --> 06:48.290 second class Timothy L Saunders , 06:50.279 --> 06:52.899 uh , a kid I stood watch with every day . 06:53.250 --> 06:57.019 Um OS two Saunders , 06:57.720 --> 07:00.179 both of his legs were , were busted up 07:00.190 --> 07:02.523 so bad . They were out of shape on that . 07:02.523 --> 07:04.746 You know , they were all twisted on the 07:04.746 --> 07:06.968 stoke stretcher that they were carrying 07:06.968 --> 07:09.619 him on and , uh , still the same cheery 07:09.630 --> 07:11.852 personality . He gives me two thumbs up 07:11.852 --> 07:13.908 and says they're taking care of me . 07:13.908 --> 07:15.463 Master chief as they were , 07:17.890 --> 07:21.109 as they're carrying him off on a stoke 07:21.119 --> 07:24.940 stretcher . And , uh , he was the 07:24.950 --> 07:27.172 only shipmate that made it off the ship 07:27.172 --> 07:29.228 and over to the hospital that , that 07:29.228 --> 07:31.394 passed away over there . Every , every 07:31.394 --> 07:33.561 other one that we got off the ship and 07:33.561 --> 07:35.617 triaged , you know , to get off soon 07:35.617 --> 07:37.728 enough , they made it , uh , the rest 07:37.728 --> 07:39.783 of them died before we ever got them 07:39.783 --> 07:42.920 off the ship on my way back out . 07:44.190 --> 07:47.809 Um , I see a body covered by a blanket 07:49.250 --> 07:51.549 and , uh , I don't know . Something 07:51.559 --> 07:54.100 told me to look , nobody told me to do 07:54.109 --> 07:56.331 that . It just , I felt like doing that 07:57.730 --> 08:00.589 and I took the blanket off and it was , 08:01.059 --> 08:03.059 uh , uh , a shipmate , a shipmate , 08:03.059 --> 08:05.115 someone that I actually used to hang 08:05.115 --> 08:07.226 out a lot with because we were in the 08:07.226 --> 08:10.260 same duty section and I couldn't tell 08:10.269 --> 08:13.589 who he was . Um , because he has so 08:13.600 --> 08:16.929 much metal . Um , the only reason I , I 08:16.940 --> 08:19.162 knew who he was was when I saw his name 08:19.162 --> 08:22.850 tag and that's when the sailor went 08:22.859 --> 08:25.739 away . And little 19 year old Amari 08:25.779 --> 08:28.850 Ponciano came to mind and I just lost 08:28.859 --> 08:30.803 it . I started crying . That's the 08:30.803 --> 08:32.803 first time that it like it hit me . 08:32.803 --> 08:36.400 There's people injured her dying and I 08:36.409 --> 08:37.520 just started crying 09:02.440 --> 09:04.607 in the days following the attack , the 09:04.607 --> 09:06.630 wounded us . S Cole was not left to 09:06.640 --> 09:08.869 face her fate alone . A formidable 09:08.880 --> 09:11.270 fleet of six ships rallied to her side . 09:11.530 --> 09:14.419 A powerful show of solidarity . Joining 09:14.429 --> 09:16.318 them were the Marines of the 13th 09:16.318 --> 09:18.479 Marine Expeditionary unit along with 09:18.489 --> 09:20.690 allied vessels , all united in their 09:20.700 --> 09:22.756 mission to protect and support their 09:22.756 --> 09:26.179 stricken comrades . After receiving 09:26.190 --> 09:28.750 emergency repairs , Cole departs aid in 09:28.760 --> 09:30.927 Yemen and is carefully lifted onto the 09:30.927 --> 09:31.927 blue , 09:35.130 --> 09:36.940 a heavy lift vessel tasked with 09:36.950 --> 09:40.320 carrying her safely home . On December 09:40.330 --> 09:42.400 13th , they reach Pascagoula , 09:42.409 --> 09:44.479 Mississippi where she undergoes 09:44.489 --> 09:46.890 extensive repairs at Huntington Ingalls 09:46.900 --> 09:50.900 Shipyard . When I 09:50.909 --> 09:54.099 left her , she was on stilts down in 09:54.109 --> 09:56.220 Pascagoula with big holes in the side 09:56.220 --> 09:58.553 of , you know , moving the main engines , 09:58.553 --> 10:00.665 repairing the 40 by 60 ft hole in the 10:00.665 --> 10:02.669 side with the American flag flying 10:02.690 --> 10:05.409 after . That's the way I had to leave 10:05.419 --> 10:07.890 it . I was sad . 10:10.099 --> 10:12.210 I would have never thought in my life 10:12.210 --> 10:14.321 that I'd have to go through something 10:14.321 --> 10:16.377 like that . But when she was fixed , 10:17.700 --> 10:20.919 put back , it was pride 10:23.630 --> 10:26.090 because we told him son of a that we 10:26.099 --> 10:28.919 were not defeated and then we were 10:28.929 --> 10:29.609 coming back 10:38.099 --> 10:40.321 by Christmas Eve . The cole rejoins the 10:40.330 --> 10:42.320 fleet marking the beginning of her 10:42.330 --> 10:44.609 final phase of recovery . A journey 10:44.619 --> 10:46.739 that stretches well into 2001 . 10:50.460 --> 10:52.729 As the co recovery continues a 10:52.739 --> 10:54.789 significant development unfolds on 10:54.799 --> 10:57.909 November 29th , 2000 , the US State 10:57.919 --> 10:59.975 Department and the Yemeni government 10:59.975 --> 11:02.141 reach a crucial agreement establishing 11:02.141 --> 11:03.919 clear protocols for questioning 11:03.919 --> 11:05.308 witnesses and suspects . 11:08.130 --> 11:10.510 This document lays the foundation for a 11:10.520 --> 11:12.520 co-operative investigation into the 11:12.520 --> 11:14.900 attack . Signaling a new chapter in the 11:14.909 --> 11:16.090 pursuit of justice . 11:19.549 --> 11:21.739 The investigation uncovers a chilling 11:21.750 --> 11:24.070 truth . The bombing was meticulously 11:24.080 --> 11:26.280 planned with ties leading directly to 11:26.289 --> 11:29.380 Al Qaeda . This wasn't their first 11:29.390 --> 11:32.130 attempt earlier . The same group had 11:32.140 --> 11:35.289 targeted another US navy warship US s 11:35.299 --> 11:39.210 the Sullivans . But fate intervened , 11:39.349 --> 11:41.659 their boat overloaded with explosives 11:41.669 --> 11:43.429 sank before they could strike 11:43.869 --> 11:46.200 undeterred . The terrorists salvaged 11:46.210 --> 11:48.520 their deadly cargo . Biding their time . 11:51.559 --> 11:53.615 Those very explosives would later be 11:53.615 --> 11:55.726 used in the devastating attack on the 11:55.726 --> 11:56.726 coal 12:03.450 --> 12:06.070 following the attack on us s coal . The 12:06.080 --> 12:08.130 navy increases the damage control 12:08.140 --> 12:10.196 training administered at boot camp . 12:10.450 --> 12:12.599 This training aims to equip recruits 12:12.609 --> 12:14.553 with the skills needed to handle a 12:14.553 --> 12:16.720 variety of damage control challenges . 12:17.070 --> 12:20.669 In 2007 battle stations , 21 is formed . 12:21.140 --> 12:23.099 A simulation is conducted aboard a 12:23.109 --> 12:26.349 realistic destroyer replica US S trader 12:27.239 --> 12:29.020 recruits perform damage control 12:29.030 --> 12:31.197 protocols under demanding conditions . 12:31.197 --> 12:34.020 In order to graduate upon completion of 12:34.030 --> 12:36.820 battle stations . 21 navy recruits are 12:36.830 --> 12:39.140 awarded an official ball cap . This 12:39.150 --> 12:41.150 tradition symbolizes their official 12:41.150 --> 12:42.817 status as sailors in the navy 12:45.489 --> 12:48.330 battle stations . 21 is certainly the 12:48.340 --> 12:50.507 most significant training the recruits 12:50.507 --> 12:52.673 receive in terms of emotional impact . 12:52.673 --> 12:54.729 These recruits are getting out of it 12:54.729 --> 12:56.840 exactly what's intended . And that is 12:56.840 --> 12:58.896 that , that uh emotional shock and , 12:58.896 --> 13:00.840 and to go through some fear and no 13:00.840 --> 13:03.210 place else does that uh like we do it , 13:04.349 --> 13:07.190 the coal is being honored every day uh 13:07.200 --> 13:09.200 with the recruits that come through 13:09.200 --> 13:12.369 this trainer . So for me , a US S coal 13:12.380 --> 13:15.570 survivor to be working here , um 13:16.760 --> 13:18.982 I , I can't imagine ever doing anything 13:18.982 --> 13:21.204 else . Uh It's , it's , it is immensely 13:21.204 --> 13:25.080 rewarding the attack 13:25.090 --> 13:27.130 on us . S coal stands as a stark 13:27.140 --> 13:29.400 reminder of the ever present dangers 13:29.409 --> 13:31.742 faced by our sailors on the front lines . 13:31.950 --> 13:33.880 The scars left by that day have 13:33.890 --> 13:36.057 reshaped the Navy's approach to damage 13:36.057 --> 13:38.349 control and readiness embedding hard 13:38.359 --> 13:40.581 won lessons into the very fabric of our 13:40.581 --> 13:43.960 fleet . Even now as new sailors step 13:43.969 --> 13:46.025 aboard their ships , they carry with 13:46.025 --> 13:48.247 them , the weight of history , honoring 13:48.247 --> 13:50.280 the legacy of the coal and ensuring 13:50.289 --> 13:52.233 that the courage and sacrifices of 13:52.233 --> 13:54.345 those who served will never fade from 13:54.345 --> 13:58.190 memory . This episode of Tide to 13:58.200 --> 14:00.549 Time is dedicated to the lives we lost 14:00.559 --> 14:02.419 during the attack on us coal . 14:03.950 --> 14:05.783 Lieutenant junior grade , Andrew 14:05.783 --> 14:09.390 Triplet etc Richard Costello . 14:10.500 --> 14:14.200 Ew one , Kevin Rocks ht 14:14.210 --> 14:17.849 two . Kenneth Clodfelter En two , 14:17.859 --> 14:21.739 Mark Nieto E W-2 . Ronald 14:21.830 --> 14:25.349 Owens os two Timothy Saunders , 14:26.200 --> 14:28.859 MS three , Rochester Santiago , 14:29.849 --> 14:32.409 MS Sn Lana Francis 14:33.159 --> 14:36.789 is as in Timothy Ghana , S 14:36.799 --> 14:38.869 MS in Sharon Gun 14:39.969 --> 14:42.630 Issn James mcdaniels 14:43.349 --> 14:47.080 Semen Lakiba Palmer Enf and 14:47.090 --> 14:50.900 Joshua Harley fireman , Patrick 14:50.909 --> 14:54.010 Roy fireman , Gary Sinon 14:54.530 --> 14:57.979 Junior , Seeming Craig Wily .