Sam J. Tangredi is a retired Navy captain and Leidos chair of future warfare studies at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Ships’ logs are sourced from the National Archives.The official log of a U.S. Navy warship is written according to a strictly regulated formula. On a standardized form, the watch stander records the details: combat actions, course, speed, sea conditions, strain on the mooring lines. The officer of the deck signs the log at the end of the four-hour watch. Each entry is a legal document, historical record and solemn testimony. Once a year, however, it...