New USCG Vallejo Search and Rescue Facility Officially Open

In January 2021, we wrote about a new search and rescue facility to be built at the Vallejo Municipal Marina. Coast Guard Station Vallejo’s new $14 million facility was officially opened on Friday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The 13,200-sq-ft facility is located approximately 3.5 miles northwest of its former temporary location at the California Maritime Academy and includes a new boat bay for small-boat maintenance, berthing for 14 watchstanders, a galley, command center, training room and fitness room.

Chief Petty Officer Joshua Hollyfield, Station Vallejo’s officer-in-charge, said at the groundbreaking ceremony in 2021, “The new station, which has been years in the making, will allow the crew to be co-located with our small boats, greatly improving our response time to continue to protect the lives of mariners in Vallejo and the greater Bay Area.”

Vallejo Station members have been housed in temporary facilities since 1996 and have had to relocate twice due to funding constraints and obstacles.

The station was first commissioned in 1977 as Station Carquinez, located at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. After the Navy yard shut down, Station Vallejo relocated to the California Maritime Academy in 1996. In September 2001, the station moved to the Vallejo Municipal Marina after the end of the lease at California Maritime Academy. In 2018, it returned to California Maritime Academy, awaiting completion of the new station.

The Vallejo unit consists of 27 personnel and three 29-ft Response Boats-Small, and is responsible for search and rescue and law enforcement missions. The unit’s area of responsibility extends from San Pablo Bay to Suisun Bay and as far east as Simmons Point, south of Honker Bay.