Her next two voyages to France and back were uneventful, as was the New York-to-Brest leg of the following one. However, on the return voyage, she encountered a U-boat. At about 12:30 on the afternoon of 18 June, one of her lookouts reported wreckage ahead. As she steamed closer, seven small boats under sail came into sight on the port bow about away. "Von Steuben" began a zigzag approach to pick up what appeared to be boatloads of survivors from a sunken Allied ship. About 20 minutes later, her lookouts reported the wake of a torpedo approaching her bow from abaft the port beam. The gun crews manned their stations and began firing at the torpedo while Captain Stirling ordered the wheel hard to starboard and all engines full astern in an effort to avoid the torpedo. Meanwhile, some of the gunners had shifted their attention to what they thought to be the periscope of , the source of the torpedo bearing down upon "Von Steuben". The ship's efforts to slow down and turn away from the torpedo were successful. It passed a few yards ahead of the ship, and "Von Steuben" delivered a depth-charge barrage which subjected the submarine to a severe shaking. Stirling's evasive maneuver was considered unorthodox and conventional practice at the time would have been to attempt to outrun the torpedo. For his actions in saving the ship and the lives aboard, he was subsequently awarded the Navy Cross and the French Legion of Honor.