The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Chief Boatswain’s Mate Frederick W. Langner, United States Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commander of the Armed Guard of the S.S. Jonancy, and in an encounter with an enemy submarine. On 7 August 1917, in convoy, escorting the French cruiser Dupetit Thouars, the French cruiser was torpedoed and sunk. The Jonancy was astern of the cruiser, and a few moments later sighted the conning tower of the submarine, and fired two shots, the first of which was reported as a hit. The submarine disappeared. Later the ship picked up a boat from the cruiser with twenty survivors.