The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Chief Boatswain’s Mate Walter Cornell, United States Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commander of the Armed Guard of the S.S. Woonsocket, and in an encounter with an enemy submarine. On 21 March 1918, a submarine was sighted, which disappeared, and shortly afterwards reappeared. The ship changed course and fired one shot, and the submarine submerged.