![]() After being taken to a safer area, shipmates tried to resuscitate him several times, but he succumbed to his wounds. “The person that I probably knew best was Electronics Technician Chief Petty Officer Richard Costelow,” said Cotherman.Ĭostelow was in the Chief’s Mess during the time of the bombing and was severely injured in the blast. On the day of the bombing many of the chief petty officers were injured, resulting in a loss of highly experienced personnel on the ship and guidance to junior Sailors. “Our power configuration was very limited to what we could do so we had to rig casualty power cables from the stern of the ship.” “We didn’t have any power forward,” said Cotherman. ![]() This caused a ruptured sea water pipe in the forward power conversion room, a space which distributes electrical power throughout the front half of the ship. The attack created a 40-by-60-foot hole that tore into the ship’s hull. “Despite tragedy, despite chaos, Sailors will fall back on what they have been trained to do,” said Cotherman. He attributed their ability to keep the ship afloat to the crew’s damage control training. Despite uncertainties of what may come next, Cole’s crew withstood 96 hours of sustained damage control efforts, preventing further flooding and damage. Immediately following the blast, crew members rushed to rescue severely injured and trapped shipmates. He recalled going outside to the weather deck with a shipmate to find Chief Gunner’s Mate Norman Larson on the bridge wing with an M-14 rifle, yelling at them to “get back inside the skin of the ship!” “It’s amazing to me how clear that memory is,” said Cotherman. He was working in combat systems maintenance central, located on the port side of the ship, one deck above the galley where his shipmates were lining up for lunch when the bomb exploded. A good majority of the people that were in the space with me thought that we had a problem with refueling because we were refueling on the starboard side,” remembered Cotherman, then a petty officer first class. 5th Fleet area of operations, this time as acting Command Master Chief of guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG 58). 12, 2000.Ĭotherman, a veteran of the Cole attack, will commemorate its 20th anniversary while deployed again to the U.S. 5, 2020) – “We heard a loud explosion and it felt to us like the ship lifted and it immediately settled back down into the water,” Master Chief Fire Controlman (Aegis) Craig Cotherman reflected on the bombing of guided-missile destroyer USS Cole (DDG 67) in the port of Aden, Yemen, the morning of Oct. 5th Fleet reflects on the 20th anniversary of the bombingīy Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Indra Beaufort, USS Philippine Sea Public AffairsĪRABIAN GULF (Oct.
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