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Old 02-20-2022, 06:45 AM
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February 20, 1997

In the Middle East, the Soviets launch a series of commando raids by air assault and airborne units. These operations are only partially successful. Several strike teams are wiped out by Iranian commandos. Other teams reach their assigned targets only to find that they were dummy installations. The raids cause some disruption but the results are less than had been expected. Spetsnaz teams attack American airfields in Saudi Arabia. US Air Force Security units stop these raids with a minimal loss of aircraft and lives.

The air battles over Iran and Saudi Arabia continue, with additional squadrons of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing arriving in theater. Although the wings F-15E Strike Eagles are normally tasked with deep strike and interdiction ground attack missions they retain the air to air fighting capability of their F-15C interceptor brethren and are pressed into service in an air defense role, flying missions loaded down with AMRAAM missiles instead of Paveway guided bombs.

Unofficially,

Operation Hatchback - a series of strikes on Czechoslovakian strategic targets. The USAF 52nd TFW attacks the Bratislava refinery complex (partially in retaliation for Soviet attacks on the Forties oil field in the North Sea and the attacks on refineries in Trinidad). It loses 4 of the 35 F-16s committed, in addition to 2 damaged, severely damaging the refinery, neutralizing eight SAM sights and destroying two highway bridges. Simultaneously, B-52s of the 416th Bomb Wing launched 28 conventionally armed AGM-86 air launched cruise missiles against the Skoda truck plant. The incoming missiles captured the attention of the Czech air defense forces, allowing the F-16s to strike the targets relatively unscathed. Nearly half the cruise missiles were shot down, but the factory still sustained extensive damage.

Northwestern TVD commander Marshall Koroleve dispatches the 76th Guards Airborne Division from Murmansk to surround and wipe out the Allied landing at Teriberka, and his underlings scour the Kola for additional armed troops to send to the new area of operations. Admiral Popescu, the Northern Fleet commander, orders submarines and missile boats to sea to intercept the amphibious fleet. Some of Naval Aviation’s remaining long-range Tu-95 Bear patrol aircraft take off from their bases south of the White Sea and immediately light up their search radars, locating the nearly-stationary assault fleet despite the foul weather. The Backfire bombers that remain after the Battle of the Norwegian Sea follow a few hours later, after being loaded with conventional bombs (the stockpiles of anti-ship missiles were depleted in attacks on the American carriers in December, with remaining supplies reserved for anti-carrier use). The NATO fleet is protected from air attack by an intermittent combat air patrol of F-15s operating from Banak and F/A-18s from small airstrips in Norway, Sea Harriers from the escorting Illustrious and the guns and missiles of the surface escorts. The Backfire raid, nearly 40 aircraft strong, is faced by a single F-15A and four Sea Harriers that managed to get airborne. The Soviet aircraft approach at supersonic speed and toss dozens of 250 kg bombs at the fleet. Only two of the hundreds of bombs hit, setting the Spiegel Grove ablaze. The escorting destroyers and cruiser shoot down eight Backfires.

To the west, X Corps’ divisions launch probing attacks, seeking a weak point in 18th Army’s defensive line that can be exploited. Those attacks prove fruitless, each met by a vigorous Soviet counterattack and leading to a retreat back across the Litsa to the start lines. Casualties in these attacks are heavy and once again the Litsa River Valley earns its moniker as “The Valley of Death” that was first bestowed on it in the Second World War.

The USS New Jersey catches up with the Kirov, which is transiting near the west coast of Grenada, and in an hour-long confrontation off St Georges the two mighty ships engage in one of the last gun duels between rival warships in the 20th Century. The Kirov, hiding in the radar shadow of the island, lands the first blow, a broadside of airburst rounds that shreds New Jersey's radars, CIWS and Harpoon missile launchers. The broken Harpoon missile tubes leak jet fuel, which ignites a fire on deck. The smoke from the deck fire, as well as smoke from smoke pots and chaff rockets fired by the Kirov, obscures the battlecruiser, allowing it to land a few more volleys on the American battleship as well as expending its magazine of ASW and anti-aircraft missiles in SSM mode in a futile effort to damage the battleship enough to make an escape. Those rounds are insufficient to penetrate the battlewagon's armor, although continuing to destroy antennas, boats and fittings above the armor belt. Soon enough, New Jersey's optical rangefinders locate Kirov and nearly 30 minutes of high-speed maneuvering follow, as Kirov bobs and weaves, changes speed and does everything it can to dodge New Jersey's massive broadsides. Eventually, however, the game is up when a trio of 16-inch armor-piercing rounds find their mark, ripping through the comparatively lightly armored hull. The first rounds actually penetrate through the far side of the battlecruiser, detonating in the water alongside, damaging the hull and bending the starboard propeller shaft. That slows the cruiser and forces it to steam in circles, and within three minutes another two volleys arrive, utterly destroying the Soviet ship. (The superstructure above the weather deck is nearly blown off by a volley of high explosive rounds). As the ship begins to flood, the chief engineer orders both reactors flooded with seawater, preventing a meltdown as the ship sinks beneath the waves. A couple dozen men from the 700-plus man crew escape the burning wreck.

The Freedom-class cargo ship Vermont Freedom is delivered in Beaumont, TX and the Iowa Freedom is delivered in Pascagoula, MS.

The escort carrier Franklin, CVHE-2, is commissioned at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, CA, converted from a container ship.

The Royal Navy commissions its newest corvette, HMS Ashanti. The ship was under construction for the Malaysian Navy, but the Royal Navy took over the contract and had the ship rushed to completion. Malaysia was refunded the money it had paid for the ship (and its sister, still incomplete), which partially abated their protests.

A task force built around the Dutch 2nd Amphibious Combat Group raids a Dutch Red Army safehouse in Apeldoorn, killing 4 members, capturing a stock of AKs, a RPG-7, grenades, explosives and a Soviet-built secure radio and its code book. That code book and investigation of the members allows the Dutch government to identify other members as well as their GRU controller, who flees across the border into Belgium before he can be apprehended.

The US 169th Field Artillery Brigade (Colorado National Guard) declared operational in West Germany.

The Coast Guard cutter Resolute returns to Guantanamo, Cuba, where the Victory ship PVT Fred C Murphy is completing its loadout with excess articles and the last non-essential workers from the base.
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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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