In July 1918 Herbert Leeder joined the Royal Navy beginning a career spanning 27 years and 16 ships. In Hearts of Steel, Jim Carter follows the career of his great grandfather from a historical perspective, concentrating on three ships in particular.

The cruisers Effingham and Hawkins were the flagships of the East Indies Squadron (1925 - 1927 and 1932 - 1935) based out of Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri-Lanka). Their commissions, recorded in two publications written by their crews are drawn on by the author to illustrate like aboard a warship of the period. Exotic foreign ports, trips ashore, fishing with dynamite, even tragedy.

In 1939, Herbert joined the hand-picked crew of the Tribal-class destroyer HMS Nubian experiencing 11 of her 13 Battle honours. These include Norway, the battles of Calabria, Matapan and the destroyer action at SFAX where the author refers to the transcript from a subsequent enquiry to describe the destruction of an Italian convoy and the sinking of HMS Mohawk.

At a constant state of readiness, the crews of the Eastern Mediterranean fleet were pushed to their limits, culminating in the battle for Crete in May 1941 where the Royal Navy paid a very high price, HMS Nubian being severely damaged with casualties.