On this day in history, Oct. 12, 2000, terror attack on USS Cole kills 17 American sailors, wounds dozens
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.