Emergencies and World Disasters
The Boat That Smiled: How a Wave Blew a Navy Apart
23 min•24 juli 2026
Om avsnittet
The Boat That Smiled: How a Wave Blew a Navy Apart
A routine refueling stop became a scene of planned destruction: a small fiberglass boat approached USS Cole in Aden on October 12, 2000, its two occupants smiling as it carried over 1,000 pounds of shaped C4 that tore a 40-by-60-foot hole through the hull. How did a failed rehearsal nine months earlier, intercepted intelligence about a Kuala Lumpur summit, and an edited security-camera tape all converge to allow seventeen sailors to die?
In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events aboard the destroyer and in the months before the attack, tracing the operational details, the rules of engagement that constrained sentries, and the intelligence leads that were never fully connected. What decision points and missed signals made the Cole vulnerable that morning?
Person: Commander Kirk Lippold
Date: October 12, 2000
Location: Aden harbor, Yemen
Event: Bombing of USS Cole (DDG-67)
Casualties: 17 killed, 37 injured
- The explosion opened a hole measuring 40 feet wide and 60 feet tall in less than a second.
- The boat carried more than 1,000 pounds of C4 shaped to direct the force inward and upward.
- The USS Cole had a crew of roughly 300 officers and enlisted sailors and had been commissioned in 2000.
- A failed rehearsal occurred on January 3, 2000, when a similar attack on USS The Sullivans sank before reaching its target due to miscalculated weight.
- Investigators later found that the security-camera footage of the harbor had been edited, with the moment of the blast deleted.
To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
A routine refueling stop became a scene of planned destruction: a small fiberglass boat approached USS Cole in Aden on October 12, 2000, its two occupants smiling as it carried over 1,000 pounds of shaped C4 that tore a 40-by-60-foot hole through the hull. How did a failed rehearsal nine months earlier, intercepted intelligence about a Kuala Lumpur summit, and an edited security-camera tape all converge to allow seventeen sailors to die?
In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events aboard the destroyer and in the months before the attack, tracing the operational details, the rules of engagement that constrained sentries, and the intelligence leads that were never fully connected. What decision points and missed signals made the Cole vulnerable that morning?
Person: Commander Kirk Lippold
Date: October 12, 2000
Location: Aden harbor, Yemen
Event: Bombing of USS Cole (DDG-67)
Casualties: 17 killed, 37 injured
- The explosion opened a hole measuring 40 feet wide and 60 feet tall in less than a second.
- The boat carried more than 1,000 pounds of C4 shaped to direct the force inward and upward.
- The USS Cole had a crew of roughly 300 officers and enlisted sailors and had been commissioned in 2000.
- A failed rehearsal occurred on January 3, 2000, when a similar attack on USS The Sullivans sank before reaching its target due to miscalculated weight.
- Investigators later found that the security-camera footage of the harbor had been edited, with the moment of the blast deleted.
To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: [email protected].
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