High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! 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.