USCGC Onondaga (WPG-79), a United States Coast Guard cutter, was built by Defoe Boat Works in Bay City, Michigan, commissioned on 11 September 1934.

From its commissioning until 1941, Onondaga was stationed at Astoria, Oregon, where she performed important law enforcement duties and rendered much assistance to ships in distress.

When the American merchantman Mauna Ala went aground on 10 December 1941 on Clatsop Beach, Oregon, during a blackout test, Onondaga rushed to the scene and rescued thirty-six crewmen.

When the Navy learned that the Japanese planned a thrust into Alaskan waters as part of their Midway operation, Admiral Nimitz allocated five cruisers, fourteen destroyers, six submarines, and suitable auxiliaries to counter the opposing forces in the North.

Commander Charles E. ("Squeaky") Anderson, USNR, a "local character of infinite resource, energy, and cunning," controlled the YP fleet with YP-72 as his unofficial flagship.

By May 1942, Captain Parker expanded his fleet with two old destroyers (King, Talbot), four additional Coast Guard cutters (Haida, Atalanta, Aurora, Cyane),[5] some more converted fishing boats (YP-86, YP-88, YP-93, YP-148, YP-152, YP-153, YP-155, YP-250, YP-251, YP-399, YP-400),[6] three seaplane tenders (Williamson, Gillis, and Casco) with twenty PBY Catalinas, four PT Boats (PT-22, PT-24, PT-27, PT-28), and a heavily armed, converted lightship (Swiftsure) to serve as an examination vessel at the entrance to Icy Strait.

American search flights commenced about 28 May, and the 5 cutters, 1 gunboat, and 14 converted fishing craft deployed as pickets on both the Pacific and Bering Sea approaches to Dutch Harbor.

Japanese carrier planes launched two attacks against Dutch Harbor on 3 June, inflicting considerable damage and killing about twenty-five American soldiers and sailors.

Cutter Onondaga and destroyers King and Talbot, seaplane tender Gillis, army transports President Fillmore and Morlen, and submarine S-27 went to general quarters and made haste to get underway and stand out to sea, but none cleared the harbor until the attack was over.

April, 2011, Environmental Protection Agency divers surveyed the Onondaga's hull, which had been shorn of its superstructure, sunk at a pier in the Lake Washington Ship Canal near Seattle.

A letter appeared in the June 2, 2011 Nome Nugget noting the dearth of WW II museum and/or memorial ships preserved in Alaska even through both it and Hawaii were the front-lines of the conflict.