REMEMBER THE COLE!
photo courtesy of U.S. Navy

he Cole incident raises serious questions as to how the Navy services its vessels when not in U.S. territorial waters. Should refueling be done anywhere except at sea. There was a gaping hole in the side of the Cole that paints a lasting memory of the horror and deaths that occurred in Yemen on October 12, 2000, for all Americans who really believed that the need for a strong U.S. military was over. And now, since the terror committed by the same group at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which included the hijacking of 4 commercial airliners and the killing of their crew and passengers on Sept. 11, one month and one day short of the Cole bombing's first year anniversary, that issue is no longer debatable.

While the repair of the Cole is far beyond the type of work performed by the USS Tidewater and her sister ships, another question needs to be asked. Is there is still a role for ships like the Tidewater who performed the routine repair for ships in the Med and elsewhere? We say "YES."