"Blue Marlin" and her sister ship were owned by Offshore Heavy Transport of Oslo, Norway, from their construction, in April 2000 and November 1999, respectively, until 6 July 2001, when they were purchased by Dockwise. The U.S. Navy hired "Blue Marlin" from Offshore Heavy Transport to move the destroyer back to the United States after the warship was damaged by Al-Qaeda suicide bombers while anchored in the port of Aden, Yemen. During the latter part of 2003, work done on "Blue Marlin" boosted her 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, Texas, for completion.