Early Career
He was born in Flint, Michigan to Edwin James Curts, who represented the 13th District in the Michigan state senate from 1913 to 1914, and the former Minnie Elwood Quirk. Appointed to the United States Naval Academy, he served afloat as a midshipman with the Atlantic Fleet during World War I aboard the battleship Nevada in the summer of 1918. He graduated in June 1919 with the accelerated class of 1920.
His first assignment was aboard the light cruiser Chester, followed by sea duty in destroyers of the Atlantic Fleet and the aircraft carrier Saratoga, and shore duty at Naval Operating Base, Hampton Roads, Virginia and the Bureau of Engineering, Navy Department.
Between 1926 and 1928 he studied the emerging technology of radio at the Naval Postgraduate School and Harvard University, developing expertise which eventually led to his assignment from June 1936 to May 1938 as Officer-in-Charge of the Radio and Sound Divisions at the Naval Research Laboratory, where his contributions to the development of radar earned him a commendation from the Secretary of the Navy.
From 1938 to 1939 he commanded the destroyer Case, which was serving as a school ship in San Diego, California.
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