The majority of this memoir is devoted to Edwards's often detailed recollections of service as a naval engineer. Following graduation from the Naval Academy in 1923 he was a junior officer in battleships and the four-stack destroyer USS Henshaw (DD-278). He did postgraduate study in naval engineering, then was in the commissioning crews of the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) and destroyer USS Mahan (DD-364) and taught at the academy. In 1937 he relieved Hyman Rickover as assistant engineer in the battleship USS New Mexico (BB-40). After duty at Puget Sound Navy Yard, he was the first chief engineer of the battleship USS North Carolina (BB-55), then spent virtually all of World War II on the destroyer-destroyer escort desk in the Bureau of Ships. In the late 1940s Edwards was on the Atlantic Fleet staff under Marc Mitscher and William Blandy. He later served in the New York Navy Yard, then wound up his career in BuShips before retiring in 1954. In 1953, Hyman Rickover, rather than Edwards, was selected as an EDO rear admiral.