In a world at war, a young American volunteers to fight. Young Earle Powers of Monroe, Michigan, volunteered for the United States Navy in April 1917, just days after American enters World War I. He is assigned to the USS CULGOA, then serving on the East Coast. When the ship is ordered to cross the dangerous Atlantic and face German U-boats for the first time, Powers records the experience in his previously unpublished war journal and in photographs taken during the voyage. Original journal entries, photographs, prose, and drawings provide a rare glimpse into the life of a World War I seaman, made more valuable by authoritative annotation.