USCGC Onondaga ( WPG - 79 ) 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 her commissioning until 1941 , " Onondaga " was stationed at Astoria , Oregon , where she performed important law enforcement duties and rendered much assistance to ships in distress . Each year she patrolled the annual pelagic seal migration to the Pribilof Islands , and she attempted to prevent out of season halibut fishing . Executive Order 8929 of 1 November 1941 transferred the Coast Guard to the Navy . " Onondaga " continued on general patrol duty , with her base of operations alternating between Seattle , Washington and Ketchikan , Alaska . 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 . Then assigned to escort duty in the area of Women ' s Bay and Kodiak , Alaska , she was later ordered to escort duty between Cape Spencer and Dutch Harbor , Alaska , as well as anti - aircraft and escort patrol off Dutch Harbor . When the Navy learned that the Japan ese planned a thrust into Alaskan waters as part of their Midway operation , Admiral Nimitz allocated five cruiser s , fourteen destroyer s , six submarine s , and suitable auxiliaries to counter the opposing forces in the North . Five years before the outbreak of war the area had been virtually undefended . But by September 1941 , Sitka , Kodiak , and Dutch Harbor had been commissioned as Naval Air Station s , and both Kodiak and Sitka were able to service submarines . In mid - 1940 , the Army had established the Alaska Defense Command , with Brigadier General Simon Bolivar Buckner in command . The Navy created an Alaskan Sector under the 13th Naval District and appointed Captain R . C . Parker to the command . As headquarters and flagship , Captain Parker used the gunboat " Charleston " ( PG - 51 ) . Additionally , three small fishing boat s , converted to patrol craft , formed the nucleus of the " Alaskan Navy . " Commander Charles E . ( " Squeaky " ) Anderson , USNR , a " local character of infinite resource , energy , and cunning , " controlled the craft . By May 1942 , Captain Parker commanded two old destroyers , two Coast Guard cutters , one of which was " Onondaga " , a few more converted fishing boats , and ten PBY Catalina ' s . " Char1eston " alone possessed sonar , or guns larger than three inch . She , together with the destroyers and cutters , saw constant use as escorts for the freighter s that brought workers and material to the new bases and airfields , none of which were complete at this time . Toward the end of May , when the Japanese sent one task force towards Midway and another towards the Aleutians , tension quickened throughout the Pacific . Rear Admiral Robert A . Theobald , USN , Commander North Pacific Force , who had been headquartered at Kodiak through the early part of May , put to sea on 1 June in " Nashville " ( CL - 43 ) and rendezvoused with his augmented cruiser task force to thwart the Japanese Alaska venture . However , " Efforts to meet the enemy , " writes Willoughby " were unavailing , and there was no fleet action in Alaskan waters . " Cutter " Onondaga " , with Lieutenant Commander S . P . Mehlman , USCG , in command , and the other patrol craft formed the Surface Search Group of this Northern Pacific Force . They were to be assisted by the Air Search Group , composed of twenty PBYs and one B - 17 Flying Fortress . Together these forces were to act as pickets to signal any Japanese approach . In fact , the Japanese sought to capture nothing east of Adak , which is nearly five hundred miles from Dutch Harbor . No Japanese plan for invading the Alaskan mainland , Canada , or the United States existed . The Aleutian section of the Midway operation was essentially defensive , although also diversionary . Its object was to prevent a U . S . invasion of Japan . American search flights commenced about 28 May , and twenty cutters and converted fishing craft deployed as pickets on both the Pacific and Bering Sea approaches to Dutch Harbor . In view of his expectation of an attack on Dutch Harbor , Admiral Theobald ' s operating area south of Kodiak was well chosen . But because he guessed incorrectly , the main body of his cruiser task force was removed from the scene of action . 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 " ( DD - 242 ) and " Talbot " ( APD - 7 ) , seaplane tender " Gillis " ( AVD - 17 ) , 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 . One Japanese plane was shot down . The next day , another Japanese carrier - based attack was launched against Dutch Harbor . About eighteen more Americans died in this attack , but at least five Japanese aircraft were shot down . The Aleutian part of the Midway operation ended in mid - June . The Japanese occupied Attu and Kiska , two islands of little except nuisance value . A phase began on 11 June which witnessed Japanese attempts to hold what they had , while the American forces prepared to blast them out . Essentially , the Aleutian battle was a contest of air power , as was Midway . Weather consistently aided the offensive by shrouding ships in protective mist , while sweeping land targets clear . In May 1943 , Attu was in American hands , and on 15 August U . S . Forces found that the Japanese had completely abandoned Kiska . Cutter " Onondaga " and the other ships assigned to the Northern Pacific Force remained on patrol in northern waters through the end of the war . She returned to the United States Treasury Department on 1 January 1946 , and resumed patrol duties out of Astoria . The " Onondaga " also gained fame for having rescued the survivors of the liner S S Yukon wrecked near Seward , Alaska in February 4 , 1946 . " Onondaga " was decommissioned on 24 July 1947 , she was sold on 7 December 1954 to Foss Launch and Tug Company of Seattle , Washington . Update . 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 . They found no pollutants , but a recently passed state law calling for the removal of abandoned boats and barges in Washington State waters may herald her demise . Two of " Onondaga " s sisters ships became museum ships . The " Comanche " ( WPG - 76 ) served as a museum ship at Patriot ' s Point , South Carolina before being sunk as an artificial reef . The " Mohawk " ( WPG - 78 ) served as of museum ship in Key West , Florida before being sunk as an artificial reef in July 2012 . 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 . Four ships have been set aside in Hawaii as memorial and / or museum ships . They are the USS Arizona , the USS Utah , the USS Missouri and the USS Bowfin . The letter called for the Onondaga to be retrieved for such a purpose , using the salvage and restoration of the WW I Turkish mine - layer Nusret as a precedent . The TGC Nusret N - 16 was in a similar decrepit condition as the Onondaga at this writing .