THIS DAY IN HISTORY: USS Cole Attacked by al Qaeda Suicide Bombers in Yemen, Kills 17 Sailors

October 12, 2000

ABOVE VIDEO: Remembering the Terrorist Attack on USS Cole, Oct. 12, 2000

(FOX NEWS) – The USS Cole suffered a surprise attack by al Qaeda suicide bombers while at port in Yemen — killing 17 American sailors and wounding about three dozen others, on this day in history, Oct. 12, 2000.

It proved an ill-heeded harbinger of much more terrifying al Qaeda attacks on the United States’ homeland 11 months later.

“Sadly, it took the grievous attack on 9/11 for us to collectively realize that al Qaeda presented a truly consequential threat to America’s security,” Admiral Christopher W. Grady, now vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the nation’s second-highest ranking military officer, wrote during a 20th anniversary retrospective of the attack.

Grady commanded the USS Cole from 2003 to 2004.

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