Methinks if you're lookin' for stuff hardly related, if at all to "U.S. Military Issues" this ain't one of them threads, sorry! I'm surprised no one else reported here on this sooner, but maybe 'tis not negative enough to pay attention to.
'Twould seem she's all fixed up and now's got someplace to go, eh? Here's a real item 'bout the U.S. military that, inspite of it bein' good news, even the British press is reportin' on.
USS Cole to Deploy to Middle East
Saturday June 3, 2006 1:01 AM
AP Photo RM101
By SONJA BARISIC
Associated Press Writer
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - The USS Cole is heading to the Middle East for the first time since a terrorist bomb killed 17 sailors aboard the Navy ship in Yemen's port of Aden nearly six years ago.
The Norfolk-based guided missile destroyer is one of seven ships with 6,000 sailors and Marines leaving the East Coast next week to conduct security operations in support of the war on terrorism, the Navy announced Friday. They'll be gone six months.
Some ships will leave Tuesday, while others, including the Cole, will depart Thursday, said Lt. Mike Kafka, a spokesman for the Navy's Second Fleet, in Norfolk.
The ships will deploy to the Fifth Fleet's area of responsibility, which includes the Persian Gulf, Kafka said. He said he could not give details about where the ships will go, for security reasons.
The Fifth Fleet's area encompasses 7.5 million square miles and also includes the Red Sea, Gulf of Oman and parts of the Indian Ocean.
None of the sailors who were aboard the Cole during the attack was still on the ship now, Kafka said.
``The Cole has gone through an extensive certification process, and they are ready to deploy,'' Kafka said when asked whether the Second Fleet has concerns about the Cole returning to the Middle East.
The ship's commanding officer was unavailable for comment Friday, said Paul Taylor, another Navy spokesman.
The Cole was refueling on Oct. 12, 2000, when an explosives-laden boat rammed into it. The attack, blamed on Osama bin Laden's terror network, blew a huge hole into the Cole's side.
Saved by the crew from sinking, the $1 billion ship underwent $250 million of repairs at a Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard.
In 2003, the Cole embarked on its first deployment after the attack, spending six months in the Mediterranean Sea supporting NATO and the war on terrorism as it escorted ships through the Straits of Gibraltar and made diplomatic port calls.
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USS Cole: http://www.cole.navy.mil/
U.S. Fifth Fleet: http://www.cusnc.navy.mil/
U.S. Second Fleet: http://www.secondfleet.navy.mil/