From: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol.V - p 158

Onondaga

A Lake and County in New York

The Coast Guard cutter Onondaga was built at Cleveland, Ohio in 1898. Until 1917 she was listed as an independent vessel operating out of Savannah, Ga. Her assigned cruising district extended from Cape Romain to Cape Canaveral.

Transferred to the Navy 9 April 1917 by Executive Order, she continued to perform patrol, escort, and rescue operations out of Savannah, The highlight of her naval service occurred 20 February 1918, when she rescued the entire crew of the British steamship Veturia after that ship foundered on Diamond Shoals off the North Carolina coast. For acting in the best tradition of the seagoing services, Captain Frederick C. Billard, USCG, former superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy and commanding officer of the cutter, together with the entire crew, received a commendation 20 May from the British Admiralty.

At the end of hostilities Onondaqa was returned to the Treasury Department. She resumed patrol and rescue operations out of New London, Conn. until 1920, at which time she transferred to Baltimore, Md. She continued to operate out of Baltimore until 1923, where she decommissioned and was sold for scrap.