The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Norman Pearce Earle, United States Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as Officer of the Deck of the U.S.S. WADSWORTH on 29 July 1917, on the occasion of an encounter with an enemy submarine. Lieutenant Earle was the first to sight the submarine and acted promptly and correctly in changing the course, and when in the proper position he dropped a depth charge which is believed to have either crippled the submarine or destroyed it.