Recently it has come to my attention that the ships logs may actually be available for public access. So I looked into the possibility of obtaining copies and presenting them here on the website. It looks like it will take just under $1500.00 to obtain copies of the ships logs for Launch in 1943 until the end of WWII. I have not yet obtained a quote for the Korean Conflict. If there are others interested in this project please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The logs are held in College Park, Maryland and my understanding is that if you go there in person you can obtain photocopies for .25 each rather than the .75 for mail order. So if anyone lives nearby College Park Maryland, let me know!

For additional information about these logs I obtained this from: www.history.navy.mil

Deck Logs: Ships that submit

Only deck logs from commissioned Navy ships are permanently retained by the Naval Historical Center and the National Archives. A ship "in commission" is a Navy command in her own right; she has her own administrative identity, and originates records in her own name. Annual command operations/histories, written under a program initiated by the Chief of Naval Operations in 1942, are included in the active records of the Naval Historical Center. Deck logs are held by the Ships History Branch of the Naval Historical Center. After 30 years, Ships History Branch transfers the deck logs to the Modern Military Branch, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001 [telephone (301) 837-3510].

Nearly all service craft are classified as "in service," rather than "in commission." They do not have their own administrative identity but are, in effect, floating vehicles operated by a parent command. Self-propelled service craft apparently keep a log of their movements for their parent command's administrative and legal purposes, but these are not sent to the Naval Historical Center and do not go into any permanent file.

Deck Logs: Purpose, and Content

A Navy ship's deck log is a daily chronology of certain events for administrative and legal purposes. Preparation of logs is governed by the current edition of Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Instruction 3100.7 (OPNAVINST 3100.7) series. This specifies the kinds of events to be entered:

• Absentees
• Accidents [material]
• Accidents/Injuries [personnel]
• Actions [combat]
• Appearances of Sea/Atmosphere/Unusual Objects
• Arrests/Suspensions
• Arrival/Departure of Commanding Officer
• Bearings [navigational]
• Cable/Anchor Chain Strain
• Collisions/Groundings
• Courts-Martial/Captain's Masts
• Deaths
• Honors/Ceremonies/Visits
• Incidents at Sea
• Inspections
• Meteorological Phenomena
• Movement Orders
• Movements [getting underway; course, speed changes; mooring, anchoring]
• Passengers
• Prisoners [crew members captured by hostile forces]
• Propulsion Plant Status changes
• Ship's Behavior [under different weather/sea conditions]
• Sightings [other ships; landfall; dangers to navigation]
• Soundings [depth of water]
• Speed Changes
• Tactical Formation
• Time of Evolutions/Exercises/Other Services Performed

A deck log identifies a ship's location and movements daily. If the ship is underway, its latitude and longitude are to be entered three times each day in blocks provided for the purpose. Deck logs are not narratives, and do not describe or explain a ship's operations.

Deck Logs: Location

Held by The National Archives

Deck logs of commissioned U.S. Navy ships from the earliest times through 1940 are in the Old Military and Civil Branch, National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20408 [telephone (202) 501-5385. Logs from 1941 through those that are 30 years old or older are in the Modern Military Branch, National Archives, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park MD 20740-6001 [telephone (301) 837-3510]. These logs are open for research. Requests for research appointments, and inquiries concerning log information, should go to the National Archives office holding logs from the time period of interest.

Deck Log: Format, Research and Duplication

Format: Deck logs are bulky documents. Prior to the 1980s, logs were kept on oversized (10 by 15 inches) paper, a typical log consisting of four or more pages per day. In the 1980s, in keeping with a Congressional mandate to standardize on 8½ by 11 inch paper, deck logs began to be written, by hand, on pages of that size. This greatly increased the page count; we have seen single months' logs from recent years run to as many as 300 or 400 pages.

Under the old format, a ship's deck log might run 120 pages or more per month, or over 1200 pages per year. (There are the inevitable exceptions, but this seems to hold fairly true.) Under the new format, logs can run from 100 to 400 pages per month or, say, from 1,200 to several thousand pages per year.

Deck Logs: What information is not in a deck log

Shipyard Work; Individual Work Assignments; Events Occurring Elsewhere

When a ship is being overhauled at a shipyard, the deck log records the ship's presence at the shipyard, but does not identify the work being done or the materials being used. These logs do not record day-to-day work assignments of individual crew members. A deck log records events taking place on board the individual ship or, if pertinent, in its immediate vicinity. It does not include events taking place elsewhere, such as the activities of crew members on detached duty.

Deaths and Injuries

In cases of deaths and injuries suffered on board ship, the log should record the simple fact of the death or injury and note whether medical treatment was given to the injured. It does not go into detail as to specific treatment given, and does not record other medical matters, such as visits to sick bay or injuries not suffered on board ship.

Medical Records

The Naval Historical Center does not receive medical records of any kind. Individual medical records, as well as any existing medical logs from Navy ships, are sent to the National Personnel Records Center (Military Personnel Records), 9700 Page Avenue, St. Louis MO 63132-5100. Under the records disposal schedule established by the Secretary of the Navy, in consultation with the National Archives, binnacle lists and morning reports of sick are not permanent records. They are kept until the information in them has been transcribed into the medical records of the persons involved, and are then disposed of.

Deck logs are not "Captain's Logs"

A deck log is not a daily diary written by the ship's captain. The "captain's log" was a dramatic device used by the creators of the televison series Star Trek to introduce each episode, and does not exist in the U.S. Navy.