PrimeTime: Sailor's Account of Cole Attack

Jan. 18 -- At first, Seaman Carl Wingate, 21, figured the USS Cole had run aground. He would soon learn that a 35-foot skiff loaded with 600 pounds of explosives had exploded alongside the destroyer, killing 17 of his crewmates.

The following is Seaman Wingate's first-person account of the terrorist attack, written immediately after the Oct. 12 bombing.

Day One

It was just a regular day for me. Gathering myself from a long night's sleep, I shower and go up to the bridge. The captain announces at 6:30 a.m. that we will be delayed about two hours to pull in [to Aden, the Yemeni port where the Cole was to refuel] … Well it's just a normal day,I thought.

This day will change the rest of my life.

Pulling in slowly, we finally moor to the piers. We get the lines across and at 10 a.m. we secure pulling in.

I make my way down to my bosses and they tell me, "Go hit your rack [bunk], but don't let the chief see you." These words saved my life. I climbed in my rack and waited for lunch. In port, lunch goes down at 11:15 a.m. I fell asleep — I don't know why because I had a great night's sleep.

I'll just wait a few more minutes to get up, I thought to myself. Twenty minutes passed, I was sound asleep.

Until this day, I have never felt energy like this explosion in my life. It brought the ship up about 15 feet and then back down. This process took about 10 seconds.

We ran aground, I said, but I realized we were in port. Then I thought the fuel line busted. I scrambled to get my coveralls on and grabbed the first pair of boots I could find, two sizes too big. I went to my GQ [General Quarters emergency station] station. On my way, I saw two of my shipmates on their way down. They were hurt badly. One had a face wound the size of a baseball and the other was blind.

I thought I forgot everything I knew about S.R.S. [Surface Rescue Swimmerl] school, but advanced first aid never goes away. I acted as fast as I could: I patched one's face and poured water on the other's eyes, the whole time telling them that it's OK and I'll take care of them.