Blue Marlin is a semi-submersible heavy lift ship from Dockwise Shipping of the Netherlands. Designed to transport very large semi-submersible drilling rigs above the transport ship’s deck, it is equipped with 38 cabins to accommodate 60 people, a workout room, sauna and swimming facilities. Blue Marlin and her sister ship MV Black Marlin comprise the Marlin class of heavy lift ship.
She were owned by Offshore Heavy Transport of Oslo, Norway, from their construction, in April 2000 and November 1999 respectively, until 6 July 2001, when Blue Marlin were purchased by Dockwise. The U.S. Navy hired Blue Marlin from Offshore Heavy Transport to move the destroyer USS Cole back to the United States after the warship was damaged by Al-Qaeda linked suicide bombers while anchored in the port of Aden, Yemen.
During the latter part of 2003, work done on Blue Marlin boosted its capacity and added two retractable propulsors to improve maneuverability. The ship re-entered service in January 2004. Following these improvements, Blue Marlin delivered the oil platform Thunder Horse PDQ, weighing 60,000 tons, to Corpus Christi in Texas, for completion.
On 16 June 2012, the ship arrived in Ferrol Harbour in preparation for transporting the amphibious warship HMAS Canberra to Melbourne, Australia. The incomplete Australian ship was lifted onto Blue Marlin on 4 August 2012 and was scheduled to sail on 12 August, bound for Australia BAE Systems shipyard in Williamstown. The ship passed the Port Phillip Heads marking its arrival in Melbourne on 17 October 2012.
[caption id="attachment_168744" align="aligncenter" width="485"] Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]George Washington was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and later presided over the 1787 convention that drafted the United States Constitution. He is popularly conside...
[caption id="attachment_2848" align="aligncenter" width="590" caption="This image contains all of the names of those who perished in the World Trade Center on 9/11. The names are from the CNN September 11 archive. The names that are highlighted in orange are those of fire fighters and police who died in the line of duty. Photo: Dzeni"][/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Meanwhile the re-building of the new Word Trade Center make great progress. The Twin Tower foot prints on Ground Zero together with a Cultural Centre will form the 9/11 M...