Hoyin,
That was a sad event and way to close to me. When I saw the rates of the victims in the paper I knew exactly where the bomb went off without even seeing a photo. Most of the casualties had Operations Dept. ratings and their shops and offices are in the superstructure, just aft of the bridge. And yes, I was in the operations Dept. The super structure on that class of ship is fabricated of anti ballistic aluminum and is probably good for fragmentation protection but probably not so good for blast protection. So I suppose the Operations shops and offices were ripped up really bad given the number of causalities. Anyway, the Cole looked good and fit and I would guess there is an entirely new crew. Soon enough they will out running plane guard for the Carriers and will get a very nice high seas solute when they join up with the battle group. Those are always impressive with all the ships whistles sounding and no doubt the Carrier will have their band playing. One of the favorite high seas tunes is ?Hold that Tiger? so I expect that will be playing.
Fair seas, Bill
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