Engineering duty officer

An engineering duty officer (EDO) is a restricted line officer in the United States Navy, involved with the design, acquisition, construction, repair, maintenance, conversion, overhaul and disposal of ships, submarines, aircraft carriers, and the systems installed aboard (weapons, command and control, communications, computers).

[1] EDOs are involved with the design, acquisition, construction, repair, maintenance, conversion, overhaul, and disposal of ships, submarines, and the systems installed aboard.

As line officers of the Navy, EDOs wear an inverted gold star above their rank stripes on both their dress blue uniforms and on their shoulder boards.

The two predominant sources of new EDOs are by lateral transfer from another URL designator or by choosing to exercise their Engineering Duty Option granted upon commissioning.

Current EDOs serve in one of several career fields, including: The importance of engineering duty officers in United States Navy history is memorialized in a bronze bas-relief by American sculptor Antonio Tobias "Toby" Mendez [3], on the sculpture wall at the United States Navy Memorial in Washington DC, entitled "Engineering Duty Officers – 'Sharpening the Point of the Spear.'