''Jacklyn'', formerly known as ''LPV'', ''Stena Freighter'', ''Stena Seafreighter'', RFA ''Sea Chieftain'', and ''Stena Hispanica'', was a

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

cargo ship which was purchased by

Blue Origin Blue Origin, LLC is an American private spaceflight, privately funded aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company headquartered in Kent, Washington. Founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Am ...

in 2018 for use as a landing platform ship. Ultimately, Blue Origin abandoned their plans to use the ship as a landing platform, and in August 2022, the ship was towed to the

Port of Brownsville The Port of Brownsville is a deep water seaport in Brownsville, at the southern tip of Texas. Geography The port is the southern terminus of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The port is located near the river mouth of the Rio Grande and Lower R ...

for

scrapping Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

History

Blue Origins's Jacklyn - January 2021 side view

''Stena Freighter'' was built by Società Esercizio Cantieri of

Viareggio Viareggio () is a city and ''comune'' in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 62,000, it is the second largest city within the province of Lucca, after Lucca. It is known as a seaside resort as ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and completed in 2004 by Elektromehanika d.o.o. at

Kraljevica Shipyard Kraljevica Shipyard is a shipbuilder at Kraljevica, on the Adriatic coast of Croatia. The shipyard was founded in 1729 and is claimed to be the oldest continuously operational shipyard in the world. The shipyard has been operating under the ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, for

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

operator

Stena Line Stena Line is a Swedish shipping line company and one of the largest ferry operators in the world. It services Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden. Stena Line is a major unit of Ste ...

. The ship was initially

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

in February 1997 as ''Stena Hispanica'' for Stena Line, but on 5 May 1998 was renamed after the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

(MoD) contracted with Stena for a long-term charter of the vessel for freight-carrying capacity to support the

Joint Rapid Reaction Force The Joint Rapid Reaction Force (JRRF) was a capability concept of the British Armed Forces from 1999 to 2010. It was a pool of specialised units from all three armed services tasked with rapid deployment worldwide at short notice. The force was int ...

. The ship was launched just four days later on 9 May 1998. Società Esercizio Cantieri had fallen into financial difficulties, and the contract for the ship was cancelled in 1998 due to delays in construction. At the time, work on the hull was complete and the ship 50% finished. The shipyard went bankrupt in 1999, and all work on the ship ceased. In 2002, "the incomplete vessel was purchased from a bankruptcy estate at auction by Stena Line" and renamed ''Stena Seafreighter''. After months of additional financial and performance difficulties by several shipyards in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

and

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

in 2003, she was towed to Arsenale Shipyard in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, and then steamed under her own power to

Kraljevica Kraljevica (known as ''Porto Re'' in Italian and literally translated as "King's cove" in English) is a town in the Kvarner region of Croatia, located between Rijeka and Crikvenica, approximately thirty kilometers from Opatija and near the entran ...

in Croatia for final completion. As a result of the delays, the ship never sailed as a

Royal Fleet Auxiliary The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence. It provides logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The RFA ensures the Royal Navy is supplied and supported by ...

for the British Ministry of Defence. The ship was renamed ''Stena Freighter'' and delivered to Stena Line in March 2004. ''Stena Freighter'' operated on a number of

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

routes including

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

–

Travemünde Travemünde () is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Bay of Lübeck, Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, an ...

, Gothenburg–

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

, and the

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

–

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

(

Europoort Europoort (, en, Eurogate, also "Europort") is an area of the Port of Rotterdam and the adjoining industrial area in the Netherlands. Being situated at Southside of the mouth of the rivers Rhine and Meuse with the hinterland consisting of the ...

) service. Stena confirmed the sale of the vessel on 30 August 2018, and in October 2018,

, a U.S.

launch service provider A launch service provider (LSP) is a type of company which specialises in launching spacecraft. In 2018, the launch services sector accounted for $5.5 billion out of a total $344.5 billion "global space economy". It is responsible for the ordering ...

and space technology company owned by

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

founder

Jeff Bezos Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ''né'' Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and commercial astronaut. He is the founder, executive chairman, and former preside ...

, confirmed it was the purchaser. The vessel sailed to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and arrived at

Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...

in October 2018 to commence a

refit Refitting or refit of boats and marine vessels includes repairing, fixing, restoring, renewing, mending, and renovating an old vessel. Refitting has become one of the most important activities inside a shipyard. It offers a variety of services for ...

. In March 2017, Blue Origin had unveiled the concept of landing a rocket on a hydrodynamically-stabilized ship that was

underway Underway, or under way, is a nautical term describing the state of a vessel. "Way" arises when there is sufficient water flow past the rudder of a vessel that it can be steered. A vessel is said to be underway if it meets the following criteria: ...

, but did not reveal which marine vessel would be used as the landing platform until October 2018. Blue Origin called the ship ''LPV'', short for Landing Platform Vessel. In December 2020, it was renamed ''Jacklyn'', after

' mother Jacklyn Bezos. In April 2022, news surfaced that Blue Origin is no longer certain of plans to use ''Jacklyn'' for landing the first stage boosters of

New Glenn New Glenn is a heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle in development by Blue Origin. Named after NASA astronaut John Glenn, design work on the vehicle began in 2012. Illustrations of the vehicle, and the high-level specifications, were initial ...

. In August 2022, Blue Origin abandoned the project to build a landing platform ship. Jacklyn was towed out of the Port of Pennsacola on 15 August to transit to the

, Texas, where the ship was

scrapped Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

Landing platform plans

If the ship had been used for rocket landings, the rocket boosters were planned to be recovered

downrange Downrange, or down range, is the horizontal distance traveled by a spacecraft, or the spacecraft's horizontal distance from the launch site. More often, it is used as an adverb or adjective specifying the direction of that travel being measured ...

of the

Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36 Launch Complex 36 (LC-36)—formerly known as Space Launch Complex 36 (SLC-36) from 1997 to 2010—is a launch complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Brevard County, Florida. It was used for Atlas (rocket family), Atlas launches by NASA ...

(LC-36) in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

while the hydrodynamically-stabilized ship was

. The ship stabilization technology was intended to increase the likelihood of successful rocket recovery in rough seas, as well as helping to carry out launches on schedule. The first stage boosters of New Glenn are intended to be reusable, and ''Jacklyn'' was to recover the boosters

in the

east of the launch site. The ship would not have been crewed at the time the New Glenn booster was going to be landing; but rather would be autonomously or

telerobotic Telerobotics is the area of robotics concerned with the control of semi-autonomous robots from a distance, chiefly using television, wireless networks (like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and the Deep Space Network) or tethered connections. It is a combinatio ...

ally controlled. In October 2018, Blue Origin said that their plans were to make the first

orbital launch An orbital spaceflight (or orbital flight) is a spaceflight in which a spacecraft is placed on a trajectory where it could remain in space for at least one orbit. To do this around the Earth, it must be on a free trajectory which has an altit ...

of New Glenn in 2021, but in February 2021, stated that the maiden flight was now targeted for late 2022, but the ship is no longer planned to be used after Blue Origin abandoned the project to refit it as a landing platform ship.

References

External links

New Glenn: The Road to Space
at YouTube by Blue Origin, 16 January 2019. Landing sequence on ''LPV'' starts at 01:18. {{Blue Origin Blue Origin Ro-ro ships Maritime vessels related to spaceflight Floating launch vehicle operations platform Ships built in Italy Ships built in Croatia 1998 ships

History

Landing platform plans

See also

References

External links