A log or log entry was a recording, sometimes written but usually verbal, entered into a starship computer record for posterity. Many officers aboard Federation starships recorded official logs, denoted by their rank or position, such as the Captain's Log or Chief Medical Officer's Log. Recording a ship's log had been a nautical tradition on Earth for hundreds of years.
This method of recording information had been employed by the Earth Starfleet (ENT: "Hatchery"), the Federation Starfleet, (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before") the Bajoran Militia, (DS9: "Emissary") the Klingon Defense Force, (ENT: "Sleeping Dogs") and starships of the Romulan Star Empire. (TNG: "Sins of the Father") It was also used by the Starnes Exploration Party. (TOS: "And the Children Shall Lead")
Log entries could also be of a personal nature, rather than an official duty-related record of events subject to standard review.
On board the USS Enterprise, Captain Kirk once became annoyed while trying to record his log after the ship's computer system had been given a rather affectionate female personality on Cygnet XIV. (TOS: "Tomorrow is Yesterday")
On board the USS Enterprise-D, Lt. Cmdr. Data often sent his personal log entries to Commander Maddox as a way to assist Maddox with his experiments in cybernetics. (TNG: "Data's Day")
An attachment to a previous log entry was known as a supplemental log. These logs typically consisted of further developments on a mission that was already underway. No stardate was given in these logs. (TOS–ENT, various)
Ensign Aquino made a log entry about a sort of plasma flow irregulation in the night he disappeared and subsequently was killed. (DS9: "In the Hands of the Prophets")
Types of logs
- Engineering log
- Medical log
- Military log
- Personal log
- Personal appointment log
- Ship's log
- Security log
- Station log
- Visual playback log
By position
- Ambassador's log
- Captain's log
- Acting captain's log
- ECH log
- First officer's log
- Second officer science log
- Chief engineer's log
- Chief medical officer's log
- Operations officer's log
- Security chief's log
- Chief tactical officer's log
- Tactical officer's log
- Science officer's log
- Helmsman's log
- Medical officer's log
Additional logs
- Access log
- Activities log
- Astrometrics log
- Bridge log
- Communication log
- Computer log
- Cranial transceiver log
- Duty log
- Environmental control log
- Holodeck log
- Inventory log
- Mission log
- Navigational log
- Neural function log
- Power allocation log
- Research log
- Security log
- Sensor log
- Subspace communications log
- Tactical log
- Transmission log
- Transporter log
- Tricorder log
- Turbolift log
- Warp maintenance log
Appendices
Related topics
External link
- Star Trek Captain's Logs - a database of stardates and logs that includes full log entries from Star Trek: The Original Series, the Star Trek films, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise