As defined by the Naval Historical Center, “A Navy ship's deck log is a daily chronology of certain events for administrative and legal purposes.” The USS Houston (CA-30) deck logs in this collection are photocopies of the originals, which are held by the National Archives at College Park, Maryland. The deck log for February 1942 was reconstructed by Lt. Cmdr. Harold S. Hamlin and submitted to the Bureau for Naval Personnel in September 1945.

A few deck logs for the USS Mount Vernon and the USS Tulsa can be found in the Documents series.

Of particular note is the Captain's Night Order Book, a notebook in which the ship’s commanding officer would write overnight orders concerning course and speed of the ship for the officer of the deck. This book covers the period from April 18, 1939 – October 16, 1940, and is signed by Captains George N. Barker and Jesse B. Oldendorf.