SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Details) (USD $) Share data in Thousands, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended																	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2013 Restricted stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Restricted stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Restricted stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Employee and director stock options [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Employee and director stock options [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Employee and director stock options [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Stock appreciation rights and other [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Stock appreciation rights and other [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Stock appreciation rights and other [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Maintenance and Warehouse Facility [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Rowan Juneau [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Rowan Juneau [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Le Tourneau [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Le Tourneau [Member]	Feb. 28, 2014 Subsequent Event [Member] Le Tourneau [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Jack-up drilling rigs: Hulls [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Jack-up drilling rigs: Legs [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Jack-up drilling rigs: Quarters [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Drill pipe and tubular equipment [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Minimum [Member] Jack-up drilling rigs: Drilling equipment [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Minimum [Member] Other property and equipment [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum [Member] Jack-up drilling rigs: Drilling equipment [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum [Member] Other property and equipment [Member]
Revenue and Expense Recognition [Abstract}
Revenues received but unearned	$ 81,800,000	$ 78,800,000
Deferred drilling costs	19,800,000	41,500,000
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Life (in years)																			35 years	30 years	25 years	4 years	5 years	3 years	25 years	30 years
Salvage Value																			20.00%	20.00%	20.00%	10.00%	0.00%		20.00%
Interest incurred and capitalized during construction	48,700,000	33,400,000	54,500,000
Repairs and maintenance expense, continuing operations	151,600,000	132,200,000	97,600,000
Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Additional Disclosures by Disposal Groups, Including Discontinued Operations [Line Items]
Asset impairment charges													4,500,000	5,200,000	0	8,000,000
Carrying amount of assets impaired	23,813,000	22,954,000											23,500,000	18,700,000			26,900,000
Proceeds from sale of rig																		26,000,000
Loss (gain) on sale of rig	20,119,000	2,502,000	1,577,000															2,000,000
Recognized an additional impairment charge for the rig		3,900,000
Foreign Currency Transactions [Abstract]
Foreign currency transaction gains (losses)	$ (2,300,000)	$ 500,000	$ (800,000)
Antidilutive Securities Excluded from Computation of Earnings Per Share [Line Items]
Average common shares outstanding (in shares)	123,517	122,998	125,044
Average shares for diluted computations (in shares)	124,468	123,872	126,393	542	457	765	121	160	298	288	257	286
Excluding antidilutive securities
Total potentially dilutive shares (in shares)	1,065	658	308				53	42	42	1,012	616	266