USRC Onondaga was an Algonquin-class cutter built for the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service for service on the Great Lakes. Because of the Spanish–American War, she was cut in half shortly before completion and transported to Ogdensburg, New York for service on the Atlantic coast although the war ended before she could be put into service. After the formation of the United States Coast Guard in 1915 she became USCGC Onondaga. She served as a patrol vessel at various Atlantic coast ports before World War I and unlike most Coast Guard cutters during World War I, she remained under the control of the Commandant of the Coast Guard. After the war she patrolled for a brief time based at New London, Connecticut before being decommissioned in 1923.
Construction
The United States Revenue Cutter Service cutter Onondaga was laid down in 1897 at the Globe Iron Workss yard in Cleveland (yard number 72) and launched on 23 December 1897, with Miss Louis Augusta Allen being the sponsor. She was a steel-hulled vessel equipped with a triple-expansion steam engine, Scotch boilers, and a single screw. She was one of the first RCS cutters built with electric generators to supply current for lights and call bells. Before Onondaga could be completed, she was transferred to U.S. Navy control because of the outbreak of the Spanish–American War on 24 March 1898 and the contractor was directed to cut the ship in half for transport to Ogdensburg, New York. She was reassembled and was finally accepted for service by the government 13 August and returned to Department of the Treasury control on 17 August at the conclusion of hostilities. She was placed in commission 24 October at Ogdensburg and ordered to report for duty at Boston, Massachusetts.
History
1899–1917
After Onondaga arrived at Boston, she received winter cruising orders to patrol the area from the St. Croix River to Nantucket Shoals. During February 1899, she was tasked with breaking ice in the harbor at Sullivan, Maine. On 8 December 1899, she received orders transferring her to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with a patrol area set from Great Egg Harbor to Fort Monroe, Virginia, including Delaware Bay. While stationed at Philadelphia, she also had a temporary assignment escorting Marine Hospital Service ship Senator from Hampton Roads, Virginia, to Havana, Cuba, in June 1900. In September 1900 she was temporarily assigned to Galveston, Texas. Onondaga was also used to cover other Revenue Cutter Service cutters′ patrol areas when they were laid up for repairs. On 1 July 1902, Onondaga conveyed Maine United States Senator William P. Frye and his party from New York City to Portland, Maine. On 7 April 1904, she received orders to return to Galveston, Texas, and tow USRC Galveston to the Revenue Cutter Service Depot at Curtis Bay, Maryland, for major repairs. On 10 December 1904, the tug Boxer collided with Onondaga at Philadelphia, striking her stern and necessitating that Onondaga undergo extensive repairs at Kensington Shipyard Company in Philadelphia. Repairs were completed 7 February 1905, and she departed for Norfolk, Virginia, to patrol for the remainder of her winter cruise. On 11 November 1905 she was notified that all winter patrols were to be based out of Norfolk while summer patrols were to be conducted out of Philadelphia. After 13 April 1907, all patrols were based out of Norfolk, with occasional temporary duty at Tompkinsville on Staten Island, New York, while the cutters normally stationed there were in shipyards for repairs. On 29 October 1907 she had a wireless telegraph installed at Norfolk.
On 7 June 1909, Onondaga was placed out of commission at the Revenue Cutter Service Depot for repairs. She sailed without commission to Norfolk for additional repairs and returned to the Revenue Cutter Service Depot 30 September 1909. Repairs were completed 6 November 1909, and she recommissioned and returned to normal patrol duties. On 6 March 1910, assisted by Onondaga, towed the abandoned and waterlogged four-masted schooner Asbury Fountain to Norfolk after Asbury Fountain collided with the steamer SS Jamestown. On 23 May 1912, Onondaga was at Philadelphia, representing the Revenue Cutter Service at the convention of the Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses. On 9 May 1913, Onondaga received United States Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo and his party aboard for a cruise from Baltimore, Maryland, to Richmond, Virginia.