The historic U.S. Navy Sea Shadow vessel that inspired a high-tech war-boat in 1997 James Bond movie - Tomorrow Never Dies - has been auctioned on a e-Bay-like Web site with a price tag of slightly over $100K, but on one condition that the buyer must scrap the ship rather than surf the waves on it.
Sea Shadow was built by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Lockheed Martin in 1980s to test stealth concept on a navy ship. U.S. Government poured in $190 million to build the experimental ship. Sea Shadow was put to service in 1985. Sea Shadow remained a secret for about 10 years. Sailing in the sea, it avoided triggering any alarm on enemies' RADAR. In 1993, Sea Shadow was reveled publically. And finally, it retired from service in 2006.
U.S. Navy stealth warship is on auctions at an e-Bay-like Web Site - GSA Auctions, which sells army surplus. Auctions for Sea Shadow are closing on Friday. 4 bidders have already placed their bids on the Web site until now, with the highest bid at $100,420. Before putting the ship on auctions, U.S. Navy tried to give the legendary warship to museums. But after 6 years of disappointment, one of the top secrets of U.S. Navy is looking for a bidder, who can buy the ship for its scrap value.
Buyer will also get the HMB-1 Mining Barge, which was built in order to hide CIA's recovery of Soviet's downed submarine K-129, as part of the package. So, the two top secret, but outdate pieces of U.S. history, are available for the price of one.
However, note - the winning bidder must tear down the warship as per naval practices under strict security guidelines. Also, the demolishing process must conclude within U.S. and as directed by U.S. Government. Interested?
(reported by Johnny Wills, edited by Dave Clark)
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