USS Cole (DDG-67)

USS Cole on 14 September 2000
History
United States
NameCole
NamesakeDarrell S. Cole
Ordered16 January 1991
BuilderIngalls Shipbuilding
Laid down28 February 1994
Launched10 February 1995
Commissioned8 June 1996
HomeportNorfolk
Identification
Motto
  • Gloria Merces Virtutis
  • (Glory is the Reward of Valor)
Nickname(s)Determined Warrior
Honors &
awards
See Awards
Statusin active service
Badge
General characteristics
Class & typeArleigh Burke-class destroyer
Displacement
  • Light: approx. 6,800 long tons (6,900 t)
  • Full: approx. 8,900 long tons (9,000 t)
Length505 ft (154 m)
Beam59 ft (18 m)
Draft31 ft (9.4 m)
Propulsion2 × shafts
SpeedIn excess of 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Range4,400 nmi (8,100 km; 5,100 mi) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)
ComplementArleigh Burke-class destroyer complement
Sensors &
processing systems
Electronic warfare
& decoys
Armament
Aircraft carried1 × Sikorsky MH-60R

USS Cole (DDG-67) is an Arleigh Burke-class (Flight I) Aegis guided missile destroyer home-ported in Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. Cole is named in honor of Marine Sergeant Darrell S. Cole, a machine-gunner killed in action on Iwo Jima on 19 February 1945, during World War II. Cole is one of 62 authorized Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, and one of 21 members of the Flight I-class that used the 5 in(127 mm)/54 caliber gun mounts found on the earliest of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The ship was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding and was delivered to the Navy on 11 March 1996.

On 12 October 2000, Cole was bombed in a suicide attack carried out by the terrorist organization al-Qaeda in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 sailors, injuring 39 others, and damaging the ship. On 29 November 2003, Cole engaged in her first overseas deployment after the bombing and subsequently returned to her home port of Norfolk, Virginia, on 27 May 2004 without incident.