Lights out for the Sea Shadow

By Mike Krumboltz

Call it a funeral at sea for the U.S. Navy's Sea Shadow. The stealth ship, which served as an inspiration for the supervillain's supervessel in the James Bond movie "Tomorrow Never Dies," is set to be dismantled and recycled.

The Navy had hoped that a private buyer would come forward and take the spy ship off its hands. Alas, there were no takers, so the bizarre black Sea Shadow is heading for the scrap heap.

Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

News of the ship's inglorious end (which is probably coming soon) inspired waves of Web searches on Yahoo!. Over the past 24 hours, online lookups for "spy ship 007" and "james bond spy boat" sailed to big gains.

The ship, which resembles a stealth fighter airplane, cost the U.S. Navy $195 million to build and operate, according the U.K.'s Daily Mail. The ship was "never intended for missions, just testing."

If you're thinking the Sea Shadow would look pretty cool in your own backyard, here are a couple of things to consider. According to Fox News, it's about 160 feet long and 70 feet wide. And it hasn't exactly been getting regular oil changes either. A Lockheed Martin spokesman told Fox that the company "hasn't had anything to do with the ship for at least four to five years"--suggesting that the new owner could well be in for some heavy maintenance work.

But all is not lost. Navy spokesman Chris Johnson told Fox that there could still be a last-second taker for the Sea Shadow. If that happens, it would be an escape worthy of 007 himself.