USS Cole transported to the United States aboard the Norwegian semi-submersible heavy-lift MV Blue Marlin owned by Offshore Heavy Transport of Oslo, Norway after after terrorist attack.
On 12 October 2000, while under the command of Commander Kirk Lippold, the USS Cole was attacked from a small boat by Al-Qaida suicide bombers, while harbored in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen sailors were killed and 39 were injured. The U.S. government offered a reward of up to $5 million USD for information leading to the arrest or conviction of individuals who committed or aided in the attack on USS Cole. On 4 November 2002, Ali Qaed Sinan al-Harthi, who is believed to have planned the attack, was killed by the CIA using an AGM-114 Hellfire missile launched from an MQ-1 Predator unmanned drone.