Reposting this per the rules and suggestions.
Context: My father was aboard the USS Ranger during the 1983 shipboard fire that claimed several lives. He's retired and has time on his hands so we're sort of co-authoring a book about the culture of the Navy leading up to the incident taken from his experiences in boot/A School, the incident itself in detail, and how the Navy changed since then. The book will also likely include touching base on the Ranger's history and the geopolitical climate at the time as this incident diverted the Ranger from operations in the Middle East during the Iranian Hostage Crisis.
We have a lot anecdotally but obviously want to dig into ships logs, reports, crew musters, fine detail stuff. Any idea how we can go about doing this even though neither of us has a PhD or contacts an established historian might have? My main concern is that these military records are locked away/sealed.
There's a few resources I'd suggest consulting. The Naval History and Heritage Command has a wealth of resources and experts; they can point you in the right direction. The National Archives may have records of interest to you, and I'd also suggest reaching out to the U.S. Naval War College and the U.S. Naval Academy for pointers as well.
Talk to experts at those places and get their opinions. It might take calling them back a time or two, but they're generally willing to point you in the right direction ─ just don't ask 'em to do the research for you.
You can submit a Freedom of Information Act request to the U.S. Navy for specific things, but you'll need to know the proper command to submit that request, and you'll need to expect months, if not years, of waiting for the FOIA to be fulfilled.