Author Topic: DECK LOGS  (Read 5145 times)

Offline K0EFV

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DECK LOGS
« on: April 07, 2008, 03:35:46 PM »
Boy what a controversial subject.  Critics of deck logs often complain they are not always factual accounts of events that happened.  Omissions of some events, and massaging of other events.  Let me express my viewpoints and opinions of deck logs:
1.  Some commanders were natural born authors, more like artists than writers, while others possesed lesser degree of skill.
2.  Lack of or little information was known at the time the log was written.
3.  Necessary massaging to avoid reprimands or criticism by certain groups of superiors.
4.  The skippers couldn't be everywhere on the sub during an event, and had to rely heavilly on input from their crew.
While these four items are not all inclusive I take them into consideration when viewing deck logs.  I also prefer to read deck logs that have inserts added by the commanders, crew members and Techs. at a later time via conversations and interviews etc.  An example of this was the posting I recently did here on the "Burial at Sea" of Ralph Huston.

With all this said and to illistrate a classic example I offer the following from the deck log of USS Cobia.  This was taken from Jerry Calenberg's book "The USS Cobia at War".  The log showed only the following simple entry the year was 1944

April 4  Moved to degausing slip

[Tecch note:  The metal of the ship, while it is being built, stands in one position for a long time; and thusly becomes magnatized from the earth's magnetic lodestone located in northern Canada.  this makes the ship vulnerable to magnetic mines and torpedoes.  By draping electrical cables around the ship and energizing them for a short period of time it de-magnetizes the ship.]

[Becker:  The first landing I made, we were coming in to the degausing pier and coming along very slowly, everything was under control.  I had read that you put your conning tower next to the office when you were in proper position there so instead of looking at the bow I was looking at the office as we came up.  Suddenly, from up forward somebody hollered, "ten feet, five feet...." and about the time the bow went into the cage bar that crossed the head of the slip.  There was a head located there, and there was a guy in there sitting on the throne.  And the first thing you know there was a submarine bull nose in there with him.  And he came out with his pants at half mast hollerin like hell.  Well, nobody got hurt.  On checking I found out where I was supposed to put the conning tower next to the office was at Newport.]  wrong port



Tom USMC