Hugo W. Osterhaus

The Navy Cross is awarded to Captain Hugo W. Osterhaus, U.S. Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Wheeling, engaged in the important, exacting and hazardous duty of patrolling the waters infested with enemy submarines and mines, and in escorting and protecting merchant vessels through these waters; and in particular, for an attack, in company with other escorting ships, upon an enemy submarine on May 17, 1918.