These strains, written in Bunker Hill’s deck log, are usually not a typical deck log entry however relatively considered one of naval custom.
The custom of the Midnight New 12 months’s Day Poem permits Sailors to jot down the primary deck log entry of the New 12 months in verse. Naval Historical past and Heritage Command encourages the preservation of this custom by means of an annual New 12 months’s Day Deck Log Contest.
NHHC introduced the 2023 New 12 months’s Deck Log Contest winners, that are as follows:
1st Place: Lt. Artem Sherbinin – USS Bunker Hill (CG 52)
2nd Place: Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Austin Canterbury – USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62)
third Place: Quartermaster third Anthony Bentley – USS Farragut (DDG 99)
The aim of the New 12 months’s Day Deck Log contest is to have a good time Sailors voices and promote the custom of the Midnight New 12 months’s Day Poem.
“Traditions ebb and move, and typically fade away, however the custom of the Midnight New 12 months’s Day Poem is one price persevering with,” stated NHHC Director Samuel J. Cox, U.S. Navy rear admiral (retired). “In every of the profitable poems, the authors demonstrated nice satisfaction of their ship and the accomplishments of their shipmates, below the usually arduous circumstances of operations at sea, removed from dwelling. Such traditions remind Sailors in the present day that they’re a part of one thing larger than themselves, and just like the log itself, a part of an unbroken chain of service to our nation.”
Bunker Hill’s deck log entry reminisced on necessary milestones within the ship’s historical past.
“Our ship is slated to decommission in Fall 2023, so this can seemingly be our last-ever deck log poem,” said Sherbinin, writer of the primary place profitable entry. “Our workforce targeted its poem on Bunker Hill’s historical past, provided that she is the oldest commissioned grey-hull floor combatant in service.”
This custom is distinct in that it affords Sailors an opportunity to precise their creativity, offering perception into their shipboard life.
“These poems assist illustrate the mindset of Sailors as a result of they aren’t restricted by the standard constraints of what goes right into a deck log,” stated Alexis Van Pool, deck log program coordinator at NHHC. “They will write about what they really feel and what has occurred.”
First place winner receives an engraved piece of copper sheathing from USS Structure and a certificates. All the winners will obtain an NHHC commander’s coin. To learn the profitable entries, click on right here.
NHHC, positioned on the Washington Navy Yard, is liable for preserving, analyzing, and disseminating U.S. naval historical past and heritage. It supplies the data basis for the Navy by sustaining traditionally related assets and merchandise that mirror the Navy’s distinctive and enduring contributions by means of our nation’s historical past and helps the fleet by aiding with and delivering skilled analysis, evaluation, and interpretive providers. NHHC includes many actions, together with the Navy Division Library, the Navy Operational Archives, the Navy artwork and artifact collections, underwater archeology, Navy histories, 10 museums, USS Structure restore facility, and the historic ship Nautilus.
