March 12, 1997
Nothing in the canon for today. Unofficially,
The Freedom-class cargo ship Narvik Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
The Maryland State Defense Force's 121st Engineer Regiment reaches its full strength of six companies, manned by construction workers and others with relevant experience and able to draw on the equipment of the state transportation department and local government resources. It is the nation's only state guard construction engineer unit.
All wreckage at the site of the munitions train explosion and fire outside RAF Caerwent in Wales has been cleared and restoration work on the line can begin.
Colonel Tumanski's Spetsnaz team acquires a safe house in rural Cheshire, a farmhouse that a leftist university professor inherited some years before and has often loaned to various students and friends. The professor is willing to turn a blind eye to the "visitors" presence, helped in no little part by the hefty payment he receives from "a longtime friend".
The heavy equipment of the 3rd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division (Motorized) arrives at the port of Tacoma, Washington to load for Saudi Arabia.
The former NVA (East German Army) reserve 10th Motor-Rifle Division is re-named the 210th PanzerGrenadier Division and reorganized, one of its motor-rifle regiments converted to a panzer regiment, and all regiments are renamed brigades.
The Soviet Kilo-class diesel submarine B-445 sinks the Japanese bulk carrier Chita Maru, carrying a load of grain, 225 nm east of Japan in the Pacific.
The 43rd Infantry Division (less the 187th Brigade) (US Army Reserve) reports it is ready for combat in Germany.
The Battle of Hammerfest occurs between American and Soviet cruiser groups. The Newport News surface action group enters the Barents Sea to provide distant cover for Allied amphibious forces and a resupply convoy heading to Kirkenes and Pechenga further inshore to the west. While off the North Cape, one of the escorts’ helicopters detects a Soviet surface group proceeding west at high speed. The American squadron quickly turns to intercept the enemy force, and a fierce battle ensues.
The Soviet group is composed of two aged light cruisers, the Aleksandr Nevsky and the Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya, and five escorting frigates and corvettes. The American navy’s missile stocks have been severely depleted over the prior months, and the entire force has only eight Harpoon antiship missiles available, which are quickly launched. The American missiles score three hits, sinking one of the escorts, leaving another dead in the water and the Aleksandr Nevsky damaged but still able to fight. As the forces close on each other, the world’s last gun-cruiser duel commences. The American heavy cruiser’s six automatic eight-inch guns, capable of firing 20 rounds a minute, make quick work of the remaining Soviet escorts. The Soviet light cruisers, with less armor and 12 six-inch guns each, initially focus on the American escorts. The only survivor of the American escort force is the destroyer Stout. In a case of tragic mis-naming, Stout’s captain flees the battle, issuing an unauthorized command to turn from the enemy force and escape at flank speed. The ship’s executive officer arrives on the bridge and a heated disagreement ensues, with resulted in the cowardly commander being executed on the spot by the executive officer. By the time the drama on Stout’s bridge is resolved, the gun battle is reaching its conclusion. The heavy cruiser’s superior armor allows it to absorb the 100mm and six-inch fire from the Soviet cruisers with less damage than its own eight-inch and five-inch rounds are inflicting. Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya is the last Soviet ship to go down, ablaze from stem to stern, leaving the battered Newport News as the sole surviving combatant.
The 18th Field Artillery Brigade is declared operational in Saudi Arabia.
photo
Soviet forces of the 7th Army have fought their way into the outskirts of Borujerd against fierce IPA resistance. The Soviets bring forward the heavy guns of the 217th "Tallin-Holm" Artillery Regiment to bash down the Iranian defenses.
The 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing, from Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, flies a series of sweeps over the Celebes Sea (to the south of the Philippines), investigating rumors that Soviet raiders have been headed to Indonesia for resupply.
One of the Soviet destroyers that broke out of Petropavlovsk is located by a S-3 patrol aircraft from the USS Constellation. The subsequent strike by the carrier's fighter-bombers makes quick work of the 1951-built Vnimatel'nyy.