The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Frederick Louis Riefkohl, United States Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commander of the Armed Guard of the U.S.S. PHILADELPHIA, and in an engagement with an enemy submarine. On 2 August 1917, a periscope was sighted, and then a torpedo passed under the stern of the ship. A shot was fired, which struck close to the submarine, which then disappeared.