NORFOLK (October 5, 2020) Interview with Senior Chief Damage Controlman William Merchen, a hero of the attack on the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Cole (DDG 67), recounting the events of Oct. 12, 2000. Cole was attacked by terrorists at 11:18 a.m. on Oct. 12, 2000, while moored for refueling in the Port of Aden, Yemen. The explosive bomb created a 40-by-60 foot hole on the port side of the ship, and the Cole’s Sailors fought fires and flooding for the following 96 hours to keep the ship afloat. Commemoration events are scheduled to remember and honor the 20th anniversary of the 17 Sailors who were lost, the 37 that were injured and the Gold Star families. (U.S. Navy video by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Janiel Adames)

Transcript

Senior Chief Williams Zachary Merchen. That’s M-E-R-C-H-E-N. And I’m currently stationed at ATG North-West. Yeah, so the day of the attack on Cole, we were pulling in for fuel in Aden, Yemen. We were pulling into a fuel pier, that’s actually in the center of the harbor. So rather than pulling up to the shore, we were mooring in the middle of the harbor to basically what was a gas station. As the ship was making those preparations, and actually pulling the ship in, my day wasn’t really any different from any other day underway. Myself and the other guys in my division, we were doing maintenance for this damage control room. That’s pretty much what our day to day consists of, so… We got up and got started on maintenance for the day. And that’s what we were doing for the entire morning prior to the attack. Yes, so, you know, shortly after 11, when the ship was at its act at 11:18, everybody was wrapping up what they’d been working on for the morning. And in our case, and I can give you from my point of view, I can say we were doing… We were putting our tools and things away, from the maintenance that we conducted in the morning, and we were preparing to go to lunch. So we were up in our shop, it’s the filter cleaning shop, if you’re familiar with the Destroyer. And our next step was to go down the radar to go to lunch. The ship was attacked while we were still in the repair shop. There was three of us in the shop, myself and two guys that worked with me. One of the other guys was injured in the attack, so, essentially, the ship was attacked, the bomb went off, the lights went out, the ventilation stopped and everyone was jarred from wherever they were standing to the deck, across the space to starboard. So that’s what happened to us, we were standing here speaking one moment, after putting our things away and getting ready for lunch, and then the next moment we were on the deck, on the other side of the shop and it was dark, and really it was starting to fill up with smoke, and you couldn’t breathe so well. From that point, we got ourselves up, in the case of one of the guys who was injured, a toolbox had flown across the space, and hit him in the ankle. So he was having a tough time getting up. But we knew we had to get up, because in our space we had boxes of fluorescent light bulbs and cans of paint. So we were getting ready for a division in the spotlight, for DC division. So those things were destroyed in the attack. The paint flew across the space and opened up, and spilled paint everywhere. All of the light bulbs in the boxes exploded, and kind of rained down on the space. So on the deck, we were aware that there was broken glass everywhere. We didn’t know how serious everything else going on was, we just knew that there was broken glass on the deck, so, We got ourselves up, got our shipmate up, who was injured, and started walking toward the door, made it out of the space. We couldn’t see at this point, it was very dark, no lighting whatsoever. And also it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe, as the ship filled up with, basically smoke, but all kinds of other things. We got to the radar going down to the DC deck on the port side, I went down the radar and there are SCBAs, and helmets with lights stored right there at the bottom of that radar. So we put those on and we got on air so we could breathe, put on helmets, turned lights on so we could see. The guy that was injured was doing a lot better. He was holding himself up and doing just fine. And that’s when we could hear the folks in the Chief’s Mess. Didn’t hear them before that, for whatever reason. I’m sure they were making noise, but when we couldn’t see, we couldn’t breathe, all we knew was we couldn’t see and we couldn’t breathe. We had to get those things taken care of. So once we did, we heard those guys in the Chief’s Mess, made our way aft, just a little way’s aft the Chief’s Mess, to see if we could help. Got back there and found that the false bulkhead, that goes across the port side of the Chief’s Mess, to the DC deck had collapsed over itself, several times, and we couldn’t get in, and they couldn’t get out. They were saying things that were… We could tell it was about, in the Chief’s Mess. The things that they were saying, were beyond just I’m trapped and get me out of here, people were describing how they were injured, and things like that. So we knew we had to get in there as quickly as possible. But that wasn’t gonna be as easy as opening the door, like it was prior to the explosion now. The door actually was in the passageway, and the bulkheads had all collapsed over themselves. So finding a way in, It was gonna be more of access, or rescue man sort of situation. I thought that there was a natural air vent on the bulkhead, that was still there, and I thought maybe we could get that off and get inside. While I was trying to figure that out, one of the other guys that was with me, started pulling on the false bulkhead, just throwing his weight behind it. It hadn’t occurred to me, so he kept pulling on it, we got on and tried to help pull it open as well. And it was a great idea because it worked fine, got a small, basically a triangle shape pulled in the bulkhead. And the first couple of folks in the Chief’s Mess were able to evacuate at that point with injuries or without injuries. Some had some, some didn’t. And once the initial rush of about three people came out of the Chief’s Mess, and went topside under their own power, we went into the Chief’s Mess to help the people that couldn’t leave under their own power. I can say that I’ve never worked, with a more professional group. It was all… It was perfect the way that it worked out. The people that we had, were the right people, the motivation was right, everyone’s courage and determination to help each other, and to help save the ship. I’ve never seen it again on any of the other ships that I’ve served. Been on great ships, but nothing like that. We had people, like the guy that was with me, that was injured, he worked on that leg, he worked on that injury for hours and hours afterward. Nobody heard him say a thing about it, until later on in the day, when medical assessed it, and found out it was pretty severe injury and he had to go off the ship. The medical personnel that we had, people that became medical personnel, people that helped triage up on the midship area, where our Chief corpsman and our CMC, who’s a previous or former corpsman were working… We had all kinds of people, that wouldn’t work in a medical situation, or a medical setting typically, up there giving a hand, to those folks. We had people at topside ratings down inside the ship, helping to combat flooding, helping to prevent fires, helping to extract personnel that were injured. These are roles that everyone filled, that aren’t typical for them. Every single one of these folks stepped up, and dug in, and put their own safety, and their own feelings aside and attacked the ship, the damage, and helped people. Helped get people out, and help… In the end helped save a lot of lives. People that would have died or succumbed to their injuries, survived because people stepped out of their comfort zones, stepped away from their typical job, and responded to the ship. Yes, so the first thing that comes to mind, whenever I think back to what happened on Cole in October of 2000, is something that happened in the Chief’s Mess, and it was when we located our department Chief, our Senior Chief in the department. He had been injured pretty severely, very severely. Prior to the attack on Cole, our Senior Chief made sure that all of engineering was issued with little Mini Mag flashlights. I know that’s pretty typical on ships now, but that was new. At least it was super new to me and a lot of the other guys, we were pretty excited about it. So Senior Chief had one as well. He had his own little flashlight. After the attack, Senior Chief was… He ended up on the deck with a very serious leg injury, and some other injuries as well. It wasn’t certain immediately, that he was even going to survive, when we found him on the deck. When we entered the space, I think that he wasn’t sure, that we knew he was there. He had his own little flashlight out, and he was shining it back and forth. The fact that he got these flashlights for the department, and that he was now using his, has always stood out to me. Of course, we did know he was there, and we did spend time getting him ready to get out of the space and carrying him out of the space afterwards. But his use of those flashlights he made sure we all had as a department stands out to me. And it’s something that I’ve tried to do with every group of sailors I’ve led since, because that flashlight came in handy throughout the next 14 days or so in Yemen. As well as it obviously helped Senior Chief immediately after the attack. So that’s tough because it never really works… It really wasn’t… We had the initial work that we performed to save the ship, but throughout the entire time we were in Yemen, casualties continued to happen. The ship wasn’t built to… The ship wasn’t built to beat this damage, and operate or even just exist, without other casualties happening. So throughout the entire time we were in Yemen, we would continually have smaller casualties. Things would flood that weren’t flooded before. This could have been due to bulkheads that gave way, because they were under strains that they weren’t typically under, as they were now full of fuel or full of water. They weren’t made for that exactly. So there really wasn’t ever a time, until we got off of the ship, until the ship came out of the water on the Marlin, and we exited, we left on those small boats to go to the tower, there wasn’t a single time that, there wasn’t something happening. Or we weren’t just getting over finishing, dealing with something that had happened. I can’t remember a time on the, may be on the first night, but I think it was more likely the second day, things kind of run together quite a bit, where we hadn’t… We hadn’t really had any food at this point. Obviously the gallery was completely destroyed. And actually, unless you were in the ship, fighting the ship, trying to pull people out, trying to locate missing personnel, the ship wasn’t really inhabitable. It was incredibly hot in the Gulf, with no ventilation whatsoever, no air moving, let alone the damage and the flooding, and all the other things. And the, you know, the casualties that were ongoing. So we had no food, really. There were some snacks and things that were brought up, from supply that were still in good shape, but mostly that consisted of candy bars, and sodas and things. So after several days, or a couple of days rather, fighting the ship in these conditions, of course we needed food and things like that. We didn’t know who’d attacked the ship at this point. No idea, didn’t know anything about Al-Qaeda, I had no idea who bin Laden was, really didn’t know who’d attacked the ship. And for all we knew, it was Yemen, you know. I guess that turns out not to be the case, but if you can imagine what it seemed like at the time, we were certain it must have been Yemen. We were here, in Yemen and the ship was attacked. It must have been Yemen. So the Yemenis sent over food. They sent over little styrofoam trays, like you’d find in the meat department, that might have a steak on them in the meat department. They sent those little trays over with a sandwich, and an apple wrapped in plastic wrap. And we didn’t eat a single one. We were all very, very hungry, and nobody on the ship ate them, because we were certain that they were now gonna poison us. We had no idea that the attack was over. We were waiting for another attack, waiting for another bomb, or someone to start shooting or something else to happen. And now they deliver this, obviously prepared by hand food. And we were certain that that’s how they were gonna kill us now. So nobody ate that food. And it was some time before we started getting food from other ships. The British ship Marlborough brought food, and more atria platforms, we’d used that all up. And then the United States Navy ships also, of course started sending in food pretty quickly thereafter. But those initial meat trays of food, I don’t think a single person on board the ship ate them. I’m sure that they all just went to waste. Probably they were perfectly safe, but at the time we were terrified of them. It certainly grew… The event in October of 2000 definitely tightened things up on board ship Cole, but we were tight before. Really, this was the closest crew I’ve worked with since. It was my first ship, so I didn’t have any before that, but I haven’t really found this level of closeness, with any other crew. Immediately after the attack, there was a serious bonding. The event caused a serious bonding between I think everybody on board. I think of when we were seeing people for the first time after the attack, and I mean, within minutes or hours or the first couple of days, whenever I would see somebody, I know I’m not alone on this, when I’d see somebody that I hadn’t seen before, we didn’t know who was dead, we didn’t know who was missing, we didn’t know if anybody was still trapped, obviously we’re trying to figure those things out. But when I’d see somebody that I hadn’t seen for hours, or a day, or since the attack, “it’s good to see you,” became not just something that we say like a cliche, but it was really good to see that person, because I didn’t know if they were alive or not. Things like that really bonded the crew as well. When we went through what we went through in Yemen, the process of getting back to the United States, was a real interesting one, that involved helicopters and airplanes, Navy ships, and foreign countries and things that all bonded the crew. And I know that as we all departed to our next commands, months later, it was difficult. It wasn’t just difficult for me, it was very difficult for me. But I know other people felt it too. And I’ve always since, kind of looked for that same closeness in a crew on every command, every ship I’ve served, every shore facility I’ve ever worked with, and I haven’t found it again. Again, so within… I still had two years left on my enlistment, after the attack on Cole. Directly after, and especially when I went, to my follow on ship, which was a Precom of another destroyer, my attitude, it turns out wasn’t the best. I had things that I hadn’t dealt with, hadn’t talked about. and I got out of the Navy, from that command. And I’m glad I did now, even though it caused a significant setback in my promotion in years, I got out as an E-5, but I wouldn’t have been successful, had I stayed in the Navy. I needed to get my… I needed to answer some of my own questions, I needed to put things in the right place, in my own head, I guess. And I came back into the Navy about three years later, with a better attitude. I dealt with some of these things and came back in, still as a damage controlman, again as a third class. And since then, it has shaped everything that I’ve done, at every command I’ve been to. Every training I’ve given to the crew, or to the Chiefs and officers on board ships, every drill I’ve ever run, as either a training team member, or a drilling watch stander, there hasn’t been a single one of those trainings or drills that I haven’t thought about the attack on Cole. And I have been trying to put it in place of something, that happened on Cole and imagine how I should react, or what it would actually be like, if this drill scenario in this training were an actual casualty. It’s shaped the way I try to train junior personnel immensely. Training in the Navy can get to be pretty monotonous, cause we do an awful lot of it. Even damage control training, which is typically pretty exciting stuff, fires and floods and chemical attacks and things, but even that, there’s so much of it, that sometimes people let it get boring. They let it get monotonous. I try and bring up by using stories, using pictures that I have, my experiences in general, I try and make that training stick with people, because that’s what it really needs to do. I’d say that’s the biggest way it’s impacted my career. The only other thing I’d say is, that navy’s response has just made me more proud to be in the navy. The navy’s response to us as a crew and the ship itself, that just made me proud to be part of the organization. I try to remember throughout the year, to be honest, October is a time that I definitely set aside extra time, and extra extra thoughts to the folks that died, to the folks that were injured, the people that survived, and the ship itself, and the mission. But throughout the year, there isn’t a day that goes by, that I don’t think about it, 20 years later. I’m being honest when I say, every single day, I think about Cole. In one way or another, it meets up with something I’m doing that day, something I’m thinking about, or I just remember. My son is named after my best friend on board the ship at the time of the attack. His name was Mark Ian Nieto. And my son is a Mark Ian as well. That helps to remember. And that’s helped my son and my family to remember as well. I honestly believe we think about it every single day. Come October, we surely have Memorial services, that we attend and get togethers. And a lot of us calling and checking on each other, a lot of emails and social media things, go back and forth to make sure everybody’s doing okay. So security on onboard Naval ships has changed. It’s changed significantly. It changed prior to the attack on Cole, and Cole and what happened there, have definitely made some changes, that everybody in the Navy’s felt since. There are watch stations that exist, now that didn’t exist before. The anti-wall position on board ships, wasn’t a watch station, but now we have an anti-terrorism watch officer on board. We have other personnel that are manned up, specifically when we pull into ports and things, things have changed. The Navy’s always been conscious, of the bad guys intention to attack our ships. They always have been. There’ve always been evolving measures in place, to keep that from happening. But since Cole, since we learned the tactics, a little bit better, since we understand what the easiest ways, for these folks to get close enough to touch us, are: watch stations have been developed, other procedures have been developed specifically, with regard to ships coming alongside, like what happened with Cole. We still have to bring ships alongside, but now there are ways, that each port has to accomplish that, in ways that they have to set up those small boats, so we can identify who they’re with, and that they’re not just somebody coming alongside the ship. There are a whole bunch of other changes, from a damage control stand point. We have equipment that we never had before. We have tactics and procedures that we’ve never had to learn or follow before. Even our escape trunks are marked now with measurements in feet going up the escape trunk, so it’s easier to decide how much floodwater could be in it. So there have been a lot of changes, that have come out since the attack on Cole, in response to specific things that happened either before, or during the attack. I’ll always be close to Cole. I keep up with the things that the ship’s doing, any public releases for places the ship’s gone, or missions it’s executed. So I will always be close to Cole and what it’s doing, while it’s out serving the country. As an inspector at the Afloat Training Group, I had the great opportunity to become the team leader, for the damage control inspection onboard Cole a couple, of months ago. So I got to go out to the ship and coordinate with their chain of command, and all of their damage control personnel. And we conducted a series of inspections. We looked at their gear, we looked at their admin, we looked at their watch bills, and we ran a lot of drills, and the ship performed very, very well, which is the standard of Cole, always has been, and I’m certain it always will be, especially with regard to damage control. (Merchen clears throat) Made it out to the ship to do that inspection, and we’ll go on to work with Cole, through any future inspections they have, as I get closer to retirement. It was surreal being on the ship for the first time after several years. I hadn’t been on board Cole, except maybe once since the attack. So when I stepped on board for the first inspection, it did take me a second to kind of think about where I was, and how great it was that I was there. But that’s all it felt like it. It felt like a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with the ship that I was very proud of, and I still am. As I go through the spaces, I do think about what they looked like, after the attack though. I can see in my head, in my memory, what a space that was very damaged, that I’m standing in now, looked like at the time of the attack. I do think about where I know certain people passed away, or where they were injured, and I remember it, but I think that’s a good thing. It’s good to remember that stuff. And it’s good to think about it. It does a service to those people that were injured, and honors the people that were killed. So when I’m standing in that space, that’s exactly what I should be thinking about. So when I look back at the 18 years that I’ve served, I started on Cole, it’s my first ship. And now I’m at the Afloat Training Group. It’s amazing to think about where I was, and where I am today. When I came in the Navy, as a junior sailor, I thought that it would be just great, if I made it to E-5. That would be fantastic. DC-2s that were in my divisions, that I served in things, they were professionals, they knew so many things, they were very, very good at their jobs, and that’s what I aspire to be. And then I made second class, and then I really looked towards the first classes, and I thought, gees, can I be a first class petty officer in the Navy? Such a big deal, you know. And here I am a Senior Chief today working at ATG, training those personnel. I can’t believe where I am. I’m so proud to be here. And what a way to end a 20 year career, getting to go out and work with the junior sailors, that I still so vividly remember being, and to teach them the importance of damage control, and get to use my experience on Cole, and all of the other experiences I’ve had, to make it real for them, and to prepare them, for what could happen, so that they can walk away, and be proud someday too. It’s hard to put into just words what I feel for the people, that are still suffering today with the losses, that happened on Cole. The sailors that passed away and the sailors, that have injuries that they deal with to this day, or the sailors that just have things that are too hard to think about, or too hard to go through in their current life. Everybody gave up something that day, whether you were injured physically, or whether you were killed or otherwise, everybody paid something that day. I’m so proud to be able to call you shipmates, and your families. I’m so proud to be associated with such a brave group, and I love the Cole family and I always will. I can say that, when I look into the news today, and I see the Cole’s off on another deployment, or completing some other exercise, or working with some other foreign Navy, I see the ship floating in the water, I see it out executing missions to keep us safe in the United States. And I know that the ship wouldn’t be, if it wasn’t for the actions of so many brave people, and the sacrifices of so many fantastic sailors, back in October of 2000 in Aden, Yemen. The actions taken to save the ship, the lives given for the ship, those things are the reason that, that ship is still out serving our country, and still keeping Americans safe today.