The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Commander Arthur Philip Fairfield, United States Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. McDOUGAL, operating in the War Zone and protecting vitally important convoys of troop and cargo ships through the area of submarine activity, and for prompt and efficient action in contact on 8 September 1918 with a submarine which attempted an attack upon a convoy.