USS Cole carries on

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NORFOLK -- Every day the sailors aboard the USS Cole walk across a reminder of the attack that made the destroyer the most famous ship in the U.S. Navy fleet.

The deck in the corridor leading to the dining area has 17 gold stars -- one for each sailor killed when terrorists bombed the Cole as it was refueling in Yemen's port of Aden on Oct. 12, 2000.

No sailors from that crew are still on the Cole, which left yesterday morning to head to the Middle East for the first time since an explosives-laden boat rammed into it, blasting a huge hole in its side.

The Cole pulled away from the pier at Norfolk Naval Station at 9 a.m. It is expected to be gone six months.

A few hours before the Cole departed, crew members learned that Abu Musab Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, had been killed in a U.S. air strike.

"I think today's news shows that the struggle against terrorism is going to still continue on and be long. However, this is a path in the right direction," Cmdr. Bradley Roberson told "The Early Show" on CBS. "It shows that the troops over in Iraq are doing a great job, aided by the Iraqi people, and things are going well."

Sailors in the current crew of 320, including many who asked to be assigned to the Cole, say they are unafraid to deploy to that region.

"You're looking over your shoulder, maybe a little nervous pulling into ports and stuff like that," Chief Petty Officer Robin Guy said Tuesday as the crew prepared to deploy.

"But I think right now throughout the world we have to be like that on any of our ships," said Chief Guy, 35, of Virginia Beach. "That threat is there, whether you're here or overseas."

The stars in the Cole's "Hall of Heroes" signal to the sailors to stay vigilant and do their jobs well, said Petty Officer 2nd Class Jessica Saunders, 21, of Belfast, Maine.