General	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2013
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Nature of Business	General Hercules Offshore, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its majority owned subsidiaries (the “Company”) provide shallow-water drilling and marine services to the oil and natural gas exploration and production industry globally through its Domestic Offshore, International Offshore and International Liftboats segments (See Notes 5 and 11). At September 30, 2013, the Company owned a fleet of 40 jackup rigs, including Hercules Triumph (Formerly Discovery Triumph) and Hercules Resilience (Formerly Discovery Resilience) acquired from Discovery Offshore (See Note 4), 19 liftboat vessels as well as operated an additional five liftboat vessels owned by a third party (See Notes 5 and 11). The Company’s diverse fleet is capable of providing services such as oil and gas exploration and development drilling, well service, platform inspection, maintenance and decommissioning operations in several key shallow-water provinces around the world. The consolidated financial statements of the Company are unaudited; however, they include all adjustments of a normal recurring nature which, in the opinion of management, are necessary for a fair presentation. Certain information relating to the Company’s organization and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles have been condensed or omitted in this Form 10-Q pursuant to Securities and Exchange Commission rules and regulations. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2012 and the notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended by our current report on Form 8-K filed on August 23, 2013. The results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013 are not necessarily indicative of the results expected for the full year. Recast of Financial Information for Discontinued Operations Due to the current period classification of the Domestic Liftboats and Inland segments as discontinued operations, we have recast the Company's historical information to reflect the results of operations of these two segments as discontinued operations for all periods presented. In addition, the historical results of Domestic Offshore have been recast to include the operating results of the remaining retained Inland assets and the historical results of International Liftboats have also been recast to include the operating results of the Kingfish vessel which was transferred from Domestic Liftboats in 2012 (See Note 11). Principles of Consolidation The consolidated financial statements of the Company include the accounts of the Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries including the accounts of its wholly owned subsidiary Discovery Offshore S.A. (“Discovery”) from the date a majority controlling interest was acquired. All intercompany account balances and transactions have been eliminated.

General

Hercules Offshore, Inc., a Delaware corporation, and its majority owned subsidiaries (the “Company”) provide shallow-water drilling and marine services to the oil and natural gas exploration and production industry globally through its Domestic Offshore, International Offshore and International Liftboats segments (See Notes 5 and 11). At September 30, 2013, the Company owned a fleet of 40 jackup rigs, including Hercules Triumph (Formerly Discovery Triumph) and Hercules Resilience (Formerly Discovery Resilience) acquired from Discovery Offshore (See Note 4), 19 liftboat vessels as well as operated an additional five liftboat vessels owned by a third party (See Notes 5 and 11). The Company’s diverse fleet is capable of providing services such as oil and gas exploration and development drilling, well service, platform inspection, maintenance and decommissioning operations in several key shallow-water provinces around the world.

The consolidated financial statements of the Company are unaudited; however, they include all adjustments of a normal recurring nature which, in the opinion of management, are necessary for a fair presentation. Certain information relating to the Company’s organization and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles have been condensed or omitted in this Form 10-Q pursuant to Securities and Exchange Commission rules and regulations. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2012 and the notes thereto included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended by our current report on Form 8-K filed on August 23, 2013. The results of operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013 are not necessarily indicative of the results expected for the full year.

Recast of Financial Information for Discontinued Operations

Due to the current period classification of the Domestic Liftboats and Inland segments as discontinued operations, we have recast the Company's historical information to reflect the results of operations of these two segments as discontinued operations for all periods presented. In addition, the historical results of Domestic Offshore have been recast to include the operating results of the remaining retained Inland assets and the historical results of International Liftboats have also been recast to include the operating results of the Kingfish vessel which was transferred from Domestic Liftboats in 2012 (See Note 11).

Principles of Consolidation

The consolidated financial statements of the Company include the accounts of the Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries including the accounts of its wholly owned subsidiary Discovery Offshore S.A. (“Discovery”) from the date a majority controlling interest was acquired. All intercompany account balances and transactions have been eliminated.