She was built at Masa Yards Turku New Shipyard in Finland for the Brittany Ferries subsidiary Truckline and entered service in 1992.

On 16 December 2010, almost a year after the announcement of withdrawal, Brittany Ferries made a statement that Barfleur would resume service on the Poole to Cherbourg route commencing on 27 February 2011.

On 11 July 2011, Brittany Ferries further announced that Barfleur would again be withdrawn from service between Poole and Cherbourg with effect from 3 October 2011, citing ongoing profitability concerns.

It was announced on 10 February 2012 that Barfleur would not resume service in 2012 due to the ongoing difficult economic situation.

Deal Seaways's charter was scheduled to end in February 2013 and Brittany Ferries announced that would be renaming her Barfleur, bringing her back into service.

[7] The Barfleur was laid up for the winter period with the last sailing from Poole being on Wednesday 31 January 2018 but returned to service on 4 March 2018.

As a result of the previously mentioned strike a round trip to Roscoff was undertaken in October 2002 to facilitate a crew change.

In December 2005 Barfleur was chartered by Victor Treacy International for a one off freight-only crossing to help clear a buildup of freight caused by a strike at Irish Ferries.