The USS Cole (DDG 67), the American destroyer which was the target of a suicide bombing in Yemen in October 2000, will be visiting Malta tomorrow. The Cole had also been to Malta prior to the bombing.
The vessel is named after Sergeant Darrell S. Cole, USMC (1920-1945) who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his conspicuous gallantry in the campaign at Iwo Jima in the Second World War. The ship received further honors for its peacekeeping role in the Mediterranean and Red Sea.
The Cole was badly damaged when a small boat laden with explosives was rammed into her by Al Qaeda while it was refueling in Aden Harbour. Seventeen members of its crew were killed, but the ship managed to limp back to the United States for repairs,