Built in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and launched in 2011, she was purchased in 2013 and renamed in honor of the renowned Ottoman Navy admiral Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha (1478–1546).

The ship was built at Drydocks World Dubai for Polarcus, a Dubai-based marine geophysical company in the UAE.

[3][4][5] The ship was acquired in December 2012[6] by the Turkish state-owned oil and gas company TPAO to an amount of US$130 million for use in marine seismographic surveys, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yıldız said on 30 January 2013.

[7] After repainted in red and white at Desan Shipyard in Tuzla, Istanbul, reflagged and renamed to Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa, she was commissioned on 23 February 2013 by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Assessed at 4,711 GT and 1,414 NT, the ship is propelled by four Wärtsilä 9L26 Diesel-electric engines having 3,060 kW (4,100 hp) power.