The destroyers of World War II were the workhorses of the fleet, but their contributions have been largely forgotten in the passage of time. Even during the war, official reports listed the names of all battleships, cruisers, and aircraft carriers participating in an operation, but the destroyers that escorted the Task Group and drew the dangerous close in fire support tasks were seldom listed by name or hull number. They were grouped in classifications such as "fourteen Destroyers" or merely, "fourteen escorts."

Drawing on official records and the memories of the men who fought in the Pacific War from its decks, Gary McIntosh has created a highly readable history of the USS Stevens, a Fletcher-class destroyer that participated in some of the better known invasions of the war and some that have been virtually forgotten. Spanning the years from the time the ship was launched in June 1942 until it was decommissioned in September 1946, few books have ever chronicled the life of a single ship the way this one does. Tin Can Sailors and landlubbers alike will enjoy this story of life aboard a destroyer during the greatest conflict the world has ever known.