The poetic New Year's Day deck log entry is a uniquely American tradition which allows the Officer of the Deck to try their hand at poetry as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve. This is a rare bit of fun in a legal document - but because it is a legal document all of the required midnight entry information must be incorporated into the poem as well! I read the 2023 New Year's Deck Log Contest winner, as well as an example which features a sudden call to fire from the battleship New Jersey off the coast of Vietnam in 1969. You can read the 2023 contest winners here: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/archives/resources-for-the-fleet/deck-logs/new-years-contest/annual-contest-announcement.html

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