This award may be bestowed upon civilians by all Echelon I and II commanders, or above; and, is in rare cases signed and approved by the Secretary of the Navy.

[1] The award is available for private citizens and organizations who have performed outstanding voluntary contributions for the Department of the Navy, within the last five years.

[3] This award is bestowable by all Echelon I and II commanders, or above; and is in rare cases is signed and approved by the Secretary of the Navy.

[4] If the award was earned prior to entrance into the Naval Service, or while under a U.S. Navy Reserve contract during off-duty (civilian) hours, it may not be worn on the military uniform.

[5] Geophysicist J. Lamar Worzel received the award for his assistance in the April 1963 search and recovery of the USS Thresher, the world's first nuclear submarine lost at sea, which had sunk to a depth of 8,400 ft (2,600 m) around 350 km east of Cape Cod in the North Atlantic.