Well, I found something interesting at least - the latest/current log file is in the My Documents\SH3\data\cfg\Careers\<name of kaleun>\<highest patrol number> folder and is called <name of latest saved game>.clg
As you will note from the following screenshot, it is possible to add entries to this log file (via notepad, for example) that will show up in game when you press the "k" key (see the last entry - it is the new one I made up while editing the file in Notepad outside the game - I didn't spend much time perfecting the German translation so I'm sure it's a bit off but it's close enough for my testing purposes):
I'm still experimenting with whether you can do this mid-patrol by alt-tabbing out and have it still show up in game during the same patrol/save cycle (I did this one before starting up the game), and I'm not sure if this screws up your tonnage totals or anything at the end of the patrol. I'm also not sure what the variables "type" and "categ" in the file really mean (other than if you change the "type=0" entry to "1" it doesn't show up in the game screen but if you leave it as "0" it does). Set forth below is the pasted text from the <name of latest saved game>.clg file I was using so you can see the format and how I just added the entry after the end of the text that was already in there (incrementing the "Log Entry" number by one over the last one that was already in the file):
[Log Entry 0]
Type=0
EntryText=Feindfahrt 22|U-55, 7. U-Flottille|Ausgelaufen: August 18, 1943, 02:37|Von: St. Nazaire|Befehle: In Planquadrat DH42 patrouillieren
Date=19430818
Time=237
Categ=0
[Log Entry 1]
Type=0
EntryText=Schiff versenkt!|Planquadrat CG 79|Truppentransporter, 8285 BRT
EntryTitle=August 26, 1943, 02:35
Date=19430826
Time=235
Categ=0
[Log Entry 2]
Type=0
EntryText=Schiff versenkt!|Planquadrat CG 79|Liberty, 7401 BRT
EntryTitle=August 26, 1943, 07:41
Date=19430826
Time=741
Categ=0
[Log Entry 3]
Type=0
EntryText=Schiff versenkt!|Planquadrat DH 37|Küstenschiff, 2421 BRT
EntryTitle=August 30, 1943, 16:05
Date=19430830
Time=1605
Categ=0
[Log Entry 4]
Type=0
EntryText=Großes feindliches Geleit hat gesichtet!|Planquadrat DH 37|Gezwungen Unterwasser durch Amerikanisch Zerstörer - kein Radar warnend signalisiert - Wasserbombenangriff hat für 2 Stunden geladen - kein Schaden an Unterseeboot
EntryTitle=August 31, 1943, 14:35
Date=19430831
Time=1435
Categ=0
Anyway, this sounds promising if it doesn't have any serious adverse side effects - I'll play around with it some more when I get a chance. In the meantime, maybe someone will find this useful