At 9:30 AM on the morning of October 12th, 2000 the USS Cole an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer docked at Aden (Yemen) harbor, for routine refueling. At 11:18 a small fiberglass boat approached the ship and exploded. It is estimated that between 400 and 700 pounds of explosives were used. The explosion created a 40 x 60 hole in ships port side. The blast mostly affected the mechanical spaces below the waterline. Spaced below deck rapidly flooded. It took the crew three days to fully gain control of the ship. Seventeen sailors were killed in the attack and another 36 ere wounded.

The attack was carried out by Al-Qaeda. They took credit for the attack in a June 2001 video featuring Osama bin Landen. The attack followed a failed attack on the USS The Sullivans earlier in the year at the same port. A key member of the team that carried out the plot was Khalid al-Mihdhar who later took part on the attack on the Pentagon on 9/11.