The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant Commander Harvey Shadle Haislip, United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility as Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. STEWART, engaged in the important, exacting, and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, in escorting and protecting vitally important convoys of troops and supplies through these waters, and in offensive and defensive action, vigorously and unremittingly prosecuted against all forms of enemy naval activity; and especially for his prompt, daring, and resolute conduct upon the occasion of the burning of the steamship FLORENCE “H”, in Quiberon Bay on the night of 17 April 1918. The FLORENCE “H” was loaded with explosives and within a few moments after the outbreak of the fire the ship was completely enveloped in flame and the water and the vicinity thickly covered with burning powder boxes, which from time to time exploded, scattering fire throughout the mass. Lieutenant Commander Haislip drove the STEWART into the burning mass, approaching close to the stern of the FLORENCE “H”, and assisted by small boats from the STEWARD, the WHIPPLE, the SULTANA, the CORONA, and the TRUXTUN, succeeded in rescuing a large number of men who, but for the help so promptly and heroically extended, must have perished in the flaming wreckage.