January 30, 1997
Nothing in the canon for today...
Strategic Air Command receives authorization from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop modified JDAM GPS-guidance kits for B-61 and B-83 nuclear bombs.
Aircraft from the carriers Constellation and Abraham Lincoln launch strikes against North Korean troops and artillery sites along the DMZ from the Yellow Sea.
The first South Korean container ship, the Hanjin Keelung, arrives in Charleston, SC for conversion to an escort carrier.
The Victory ship Earlham Victory exits the shipyard after reactivation and crosses San Francisco Bay to load cargo in Oakland. The WW II built ship had sailed for 8 years post war, mostly in support of the Korean and Vietnam wars. Also leaving the shipyard that day, the freighter John Lykes, reactivated after being laid up for nearly 18 months.
In light of Soviet long-range aviation's focus on Romanian tank and trucks plants, CENTAF launches Operation Night Breeze. USAF F-15Es, F-111s and F-117s, British, Luftwaffe and Marineflieger (German naval air force) Tornadoes launch six waves of attacks on Polish tank plant in Gliwice and the Martin tank plant in Czechoslovakia. The use of PGMs by the NATO aircraft allow the raids to be more successful than the Soviet ones, and production at both plants is severely curtailed.
The Soviet frigate SKR-58 hits a NATO mine while crossing the GIUK Gap and sinks. Three sailors survive and are captured by the US cruiser Leyte Gulf, patrolling the Gap.
The surface action groups formed the prior day sortie into the North Atlantic, joining the search for the Soviet battle cruiser.
The Greek 2nd Parachute Regiment arrives at Paphos airport in southwestern Cyprus and immediately rushes to defense of Limassol. V Infantry Division in Crete loads onto amphibious shipping. The Greek Navy deploys into Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.
Turkish troops in Bulgaria capture the town of Kotel in the Balkan Mountains (which run east to west across the country) after weeks of fighting in the bitter winter conditions.
Soviet bombers encounter a rude surprise when they return to the skies over Brasov, Romania - the city's defenses have been augmented by a battery of Patriot missiles of the 1st Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery, flown in from Germany. The American missiles down 8 bombers.
The 135th Field Artillery Brigade (Missouri National Guard) completes its deployment into Hamburg.
The Mobilization-only 113th MRD called up in the Caucasus for service in the Balkans.
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I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like... victory. Someday this war's gonna end...
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