WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The USS Cole can be fixed -- at a cost of $150 million to $170 million, according to the Pentagon's latest estimates.
Navy officials said divers have found no irreparable damage to the $1 billion warship's keel.
If the keel were damaged, the ship would have to be scrapped, although about $500 million dollars of equipment could be salvaged.
The Navy says a more-detailed inspection of the keel will be conducted over the next month, while the Cole is carried aboard the transport ship Blue Marlin back to the United States.
The Pentagon has not released close-up photographs of the Cole's damaged port side since it was raised out of the water. Unofficial photographs show the hole extends only a short distance below the waterline.
Avoiding the Suez Canal
Pentagon sources say the Blue Marlin is scheduled to leave within a few days for Norfolk, Virginia, where the Cole's weapons will be off-loaded and stored.
After that, the Navy will make a decision about where the ship will be repaired. Choices include the Newport News shipyard near Norfolk; the Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi , where the ship was built; or Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, where the ship was designed.
Plans now call for the Blue Marlin, escorted by the USS Donald Cook, to bring the Cole around the tip of Africa, avoiding the Suez Canal.
Navy officials say security in the narrow Suez Canal was a concern, but the primary factor was a request by the owners of the Blue Marlin to take the southern route because of better weather.
A private Norwegian company, Offshore Heavy Transport, owns the Blue Marlin.
Helicopters flying again into Yemen
Pentagon officials say U.S. military helicopters are again flying back and forth between U.S. ships and the Port of Aden after a brief halt yesterday.
Officials say the Yemeni government put restrictions of helicopters flights Tuesday, citing security concerns.
Pentagon officials says that while the USS Cole was in the port of Aden, Yemen issued a "blanket waiver" that allowed U.S. helicopters and small boats permission to land on Yemeni soil.
That waiver expired on Monday, according to Pentagon sources.
Officials said Yemen on Tuesday resumed its normal procedure of requiring "diplomatic clearances" for helicopters to land in Aden.
The Navy says it sent a helicopter to Aden on Tuesday, after being told by the U.S. Embassy that clearances had been obtained. But the helicopter was denied permission to land and returned to a U.S. Navy ship.
No other helicopters flew between ships and shore Tuesday.
Navy officials said they believe U.S. investigators were able to use small boats to get to shore during that time.
Pentagon officials say the proper clearances have now been obtained and flights have resumed.
Panel reviews security
Meanwhile, the commission that is reviewing the security procedures related to the Cole attack will brief reporters Thursday on the scope of its investigation.
After last month's attack, Secretary of Defense William Cohen appointed retired Army Gen. William Crouch, former vice chief of staff of the U.S. Army, and retired Navy Adm. Harold Gehman, former commander-in-chief of U.S. Joint Forces Command, to lead a review of lessons learned from the attack.
Gen. Crouch and Adm. Gehman will brief reporters on how they will conduct their review, which will look at security procedures, force protection matters, rules of engagement, logistical support, intelligence and counterintelligence efforts.
The review is to be conducted separately, but in coordination with, an FBI-led investigation to determine culpability for the blast.
The Pentagon says the Cole panel, along with a separate Navy review of the preparations that USS Cole made for refueling in Aden, is intended to provide a comprehensive assessment of the incident and lessons to be learned from it.
Cole crew comes home Friday
The remaining 217 crew members of USS Cole will return to their home port of Norfolk, Virginia, on Friday afternoon, the Navy said Wednesday.
The destroyer's captain, Cmdr. Kirk S. Lippold, will be among them.
A Navy release said the sailors will fly into Naval Station Norfolk, where family, friends, shipmates and the Hampton Roads Navy community will greet them around 1 p.m.
Most crew members will then go on leave and later return to the Cole detachment in Norfolk.
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