Completed by Lürssen in Bremen in 1977, serial ID 13453, the ship was utilised by the German Federal Agency for Agriculture and Nutrition (BLE) unit of the Küstenwache, or the German Federal Coast Guard, as a "Fischereischutzboot" or fishery protection vessel.

The ship was classified by Germanischer Lloyd as a Class E2 Icebreaker, employed principally in the central North Sea and North Atlantic, where thanks to its design it proved excellent at navigating through adverse sea conditions.
In 2009 it was decommissioned and replaced by the "Meerkatze II", previously the research ship Anton Dohrn.
 It was acquired by Bremen company RS Research Shipping (now Jasmund Shipping), renamed MV Aquarius and re-registered under Gibraltar port of registry.
 Here it operated until the end of 2015 as a survey vessel for renewable energy, oil & gas industry, and other offshore projects.

On 1 September 2018, the vessel's operators changed the ship's name from "Aquarius" to "Aquarius 2" and changed its vessel type from "research vessel" to "search and rescue vessel".

The ship has been operated and managed by Jasmund shipping GmBH since June 2017, and after a brief interval again since 11 September 2018.
Prior to this, the ship was managed by Hempel shipping (2009-2017).
The ship has been owned by Aquarius GmBH & Co KG since April 2009.
On 16 August 2018, the ship was inspected by the Port state control (Pais MoU) at Valletta (Malta) and 5 deficiencies were found related to the crew certificates, oil record book and blocked routes of escape.
Completed by Lürssen in Bremen in 1977, serial ID 13453, the ship was utilised by the German Federal Agency for Agriculture and Nutrition (BLE) unit of the Küstenwache, or the German Federal Coast Guard, as a "Fischereischutzboot" or fishery protection vessel.
The ship was classified by Germanischer Lloyd as a Class E2 Icebreaker, employed principally in the central North Sea and North Atlantic, where thanks to its design it proved excellent at navigating through adverse sea conditions. In 2009 it was decommissioned and replaced by the "Meerkatze II", previously the research ship Anton Dohrn.  It was acquired by Bremen company RS Research Shipping (now Jasmund Shipping), renamed MV Aquarius and re-registered under Gibraltar port of registry.  Here it operated until the end of 2015 as a survey vessel for renewable energy, oil & gas industry, and other offshore projects.
On 1 September 2018, the vessel's operators changed the ship's name from "Aquarius" to "Aquarius 2" and changed its vessel type from "research vessel" to "search and rescue vessel".
The ship has been operated and managed by Jasmund shipping GmBH since June 2017, and after a brief interval again since 11 September 2018. Prior to this, the ship was managed by Hempel shipping (2009-2017). The ship has been owned by Aquarius GmBH & Co KG since April 2009. On 16 August 2018, the ship was inspected by the Port state control (Pais MoU) at Valletta (Malta) and 5 deficiencies were found related to the crew certificates, oil record book and blocked routes of escape.
Aquarius Dignitus