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You know it seems to me the Cole was hit, pretty much amidships, maybe just forward of amidships at pretty much the widest point on the ship. Personally if I wanted to disable her I'd have gone after the screws, or if trying to kill folks farther forward closer to berthing. Where they hit looks like it was near the forward engine room. You still engine room number 2 and one screw so still in service. I bet any of that information you are referring to is probably available from Janes's. Finally even anchored you're not going to have an Air Search radar on and with the proximity to Iran anchored or moored that carrier or ship will mostly sit out the initial attack from Iran if one were to happen. I remember the day the Cole was hit, I was awfully pissed off, having been the watchstander in similar refueling ops, I could understand how it happened though.

What you had was a ship that could not leave port on it's own power. There's more to a ship than screws. You have fuel pumping systems, electrical switchboards, generators, fire pumps, etc. My guess is after the hit her radar & electronics was also non functional. I won't say on the thread why but I know the reason why. Likely one nobody but a few snipes and the ET's would know. The engine room attack nearly destroyed the ship. Remember it had to be piggy backed to the states. A screw hit would have been iffy but this blast hit waterline and below.

If there is an attack going on say from Iran anywhere in the M.E. ALL ships need to leave port ASAP. A ship at sea is the most defend-able posture it can be in. Get them underway first then work out who goes where.

All refueling ops I was involved in was done at sea and for a while I worked in Fuel Oil Test Lab before going to auxiliaries.