USS Marlow

The USS Marlow was a Bougainville-class attack transport ship in service with the United States Colonial Marine Corps, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment.^[1] It was dispatched to BG-386 to investigate a distress call sent from the Freya's Prospect colony, during which mission it was crewed by Marines under the command of Major Thomas Van Zandt.

The Marlow was destroyed in orbit above BG-386 by a Yautja frigate piloted by Dark's clan members.

History[]

Mission to BG-386[]

"No warning, just 'BANG!' No more Marlow..."

―Unidentified Marine Sergeant (from Aliens vs. Predator)

The Marlow arrived at BG-386 in response to a distress call sent by Katya following a major Xenomorph outbreak at the research facility on the planet. The ship had barely got landing operations underway when a Yautja vessel decloaked nearby and immediately opened fire, blowing the Marlow clean in half with a single salvo before the ship could even respond. The vessel quickly broke up in orbit, and burning pieces of its hull rained down on the planet surface below for some time following its destruction. The loss of the Marlow effectively stranded the Marines deployed on BG-386.

Known Crew[]

Major Thomas Van Zandt [K.I.A.]
Corporal Teresa Aquila
Private 'Rookie'
Private Gibson [K.I.A.]
Adams [K.I.A.]
Bores [K.I.A.]
Connor [K.I.A.]
Connor [M.I.A.]
Danone [M.I.A.]
Franco [K.I.A.]
Heath [K.I.A.]
Hennessy [K.I.A.]
Jackson [K.I.A.]
Johnson [M.I.A.]
T.J. Jones^[2] [K.I.A.]
Mac [K.I.A.]
Mathers [K.I.A.]
Moss [M.I.A.]
Nolan [K.I.A.]
Prezbolewski [K.I.A.]
P.T. Rodriguez^[2] [K.I.A.]
Roper [M.I.A.]
C. Standen^[2] [K.I.A.]
Custer [K.I.A.]

Trivia[]

The Marlow continues the tradition of naming spacecraft in the Alien franchise after elements from Joseph Conrad novels — Charles Marlow is a recurring character featured in several of Conrad's works — although the vessel's name was originally going to be spelt Marlowe, according to concept art seen below. The name Marlow was used again for Henry Marlow in the video game Alien: Isolation.
After the ship's destruction, burning debris (a wrecked Type 337 EEV) with the name "USS MARLOW" stenciled on it can be seen at the back of the small jungle encampment in the level "Jungle" (in all three campaigns).
The Marlow is armed with two turreted twin-linked cannons of some kind. Comparing their size and proportion with schematics of the similar Conestoga-class ships, it appears the dorsal turret is a particle beam weapon with a rail gun turret mounted atop it, while the ventral turret is a rail gun.
Once Dark has landed on the surface, he overhears two Marines talking about the loss of the Marlow. One particular Marine says, "And their weaponry sure as Hell kicks the shit out of ours." This (along with the speed with which the Marlow was destroyed) indicates that Predator ship-to-ship combat technology is also far in advance of that possessed by humans, as with their other weaponry.