When Rhyme Is a Crime: or The Navy Made Me Do It
Certain items of information are expected to be included in US Navy ships’ logs—ship’s location, connection to pier, material condition, condition of readiness, other ships present, source of power, location of SOPA—and there are only so many ways this limited … Continue reading →
Announcing The Midwatch in Verse Project
In February of 2023, McFarland Books published the first book-length treatment of an old US Navy tradition of writing the first deck log entry of the New Year in verse. Titled Midwatch in Verse: New Year’s Deck Log Poetry of … Continue reading →
Midwatch in Verse is now shipping
Greetings! Just a note to let you know that the softcover version of Midwatch in Verse is now shipping from the publisher, McFarland Books. An e-book version will eventually be available, but at this time we do not know the … Continue reading →
What is a “typical” deck log?
According to the Naval History & Heritage Command (NHHC): 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 … Continue reading →
Oldest Midwatch Poem [to date]
The Ship: USS Idaho (BB 42) was a New Mexico-class dreadnaught battleship commissioned March 24, 1919. While returning from exercises in the western Pacific in late 1925, Idaho carried the famous Naval airman Commander John Rodgers back to San Francisco … Continue reading →
The Origins of the New Year’s Deck Log Poetry Tradition
More than sixty years ago, in the January 1959 issue of the US Naval Institute Proceedings, Captain Robert W. McNitt, USN, wrote an article describing the unusual Navy tradition of writing the New Year’s deck log on US ships … Continue reading →