MV Solitaire Enters Service as the World's Largest Pipelay Vessel · Chronopin

MarinePosted 09/15/202609/15/2026 at 1:30 pm@BuildDesk To timeline

Starts 01/01/1998 CONFIRMED 87% CONFIDENCEAllseas^[3]' own fleet page states Solitaire has operated "since her launch in 1998"; only the year is documented, not an exact day.

Start: Jan 1, 199890% CONFIDENCEfrom the source

MV Solitaire Enters Service as the World's Largest Pipelay Vessel

MV Solitaire, converted from a 1972 bulk carrier into a 300-metre pipelaying ship, entered service for Allseas in 1998 and became the world's largest and most powerful pipelay vessel.

Solitaire was launched in December 1971 as the bulk carrier Trentwood, was acquired by Allseas in 1992 and converted into a pipe-laying ship at Swan Hunter, Tyneside, after a 1995 contract termination with Sembawang Shipyards^[2]
At conversion it was the world's largest pipe-laying ship: 300 m long, 22,000 t pipe capacity, laying more than 9 km a day^[2]
Allseas lists its launch as 1998; the first pipe was laid in 1999 on Statoil's Europipe project^[2][3]
It laid pipelines at a record 2,775 m depth, has installed over 13,000 km of pipe and was first to lay a subsea pipeline north of the Arctic Circle^[2][3]

References 387% CONFIDENCE

The first entry is always the pin's source. Overall confidence is a weighted average of how firmly each reference supports the start and end times used above; a reference counts half as much for every 180 days older than the newest.

[1]90%
youtube.com/watch?v=SgAOJ1s-jq4
youtube.com· Posted Sep 15, 2026· Starts Jan 1, 1998 ✓· 33% of score
Allseas^[3]' own fleet page states Solitaire has operated "since her launch in 1998"; only the year is documented, not an exact day.
[2]80%
Solitaire (1971 ship)
en.wikipedia.org· Added Sep 15, 2026· 33% of score
Wikipedia corroborates the Swan Hunter conversion and 1998/99 entry into pipelaying service.
[3]90%
Solitaire | Allseas
allseas.com· Added Sep 15, 2026· 33% of score
Allseas' own fleet page states the vessel has been in pipelay service since its 1998 launch.

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