Prototype Stealth Ship on the Auction Block for Just Over $100K

If you were ever interested in owning a piece of Lockheed Martin-made Navy memorabilia that was also the inspiration for a ship in the James Bond flick "Tomorrow Never Dies," now's your chance. The General Services Administration is auctioning off the Sea Shadow, a stealth ship prototype developed to test new technologies in the 1980s. But, as you might expect, it comes with some stipulations for the highest bidder.

For those of you interested in the vessel, GeekOSystem has more on Sea Shadow's history:

For those unaware, the Sea Shadow was built by Lockheed Martin and DARPA in 1985 to test automation and stealth concepts on naval craft. The comparisons between it and the angular design of the Lockheed F-117 stealth fighter are immediate to the eye, and probably intentional as the Sea Shadow was built only four years after the aircraft’s first flight.

The Sea Shadow has been paired with the HMB-1 since the stealth craft’s inception, and the floating drydock has continued to house the craft after it was removed from service in 2006. Since then, the pair have been quietly rusting in the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, with the hopes that an interested museum would want to take on the strange vessel. There were, obviously, no takers.

So, it went to auction but here's the catch. According to the GSA description, if you're the one taking home this beast, know that it will be "DISPOSED OF BY COMPLETELY DISMANTLING AND SCRAPPING WITHIN THE U.S.A. DISMANTILING IS DEFINED AS REDUCING THE PROPERTY SUCH AS IT HAS NO VALUE EXCEPT FOR ITS BASIC MATERIAL CONTENT." The all caps were of the GSA. As GeekOSystem explains it, this means no pleasure boating.

Here's some footage of the Sea Shadow from YouTube:

As of Monday, there are four days left to place your bid. So far there have been five bidders, the highest at $100,420, according to GeekOSystem. A $10,000 deposit is required to bid.

The Herald Sun reports Sea Shadow cost $195 million to construct.