A unique US Cold War ship is currently at auction, amid fears that the historic piece could end up as scrap metal.

The Sea Shadow, built by Lockheed Martin in 1983, was able to sail undetected by radar thanks to design features it borrowed from planes such as the F-117 Nighthawk.

Although not believed to have ever carried weapons, the ship was designed to test the possibilities of stealth warfare on the ocean waves.

Will there be a late reprieve for the Sea Shadow?

"We operated with impunity," SK Gupta, Sea Shadow's test director from 1988 to 1995, told the Sacramento Bee newspaper.

"We could take anybody down at night."

The US' General Services Administration is auctioning the 146 foot long historic ship for scrap metal after attempts to sell the item to a museum have failed.

It was last in service in 2006.

"While several letters of interest were received … our only disposition option is dismantling and recycling," Navy spokesperson Christopher Johnson told the newspaper.

Here at Paul Fraser Collectibles, we're hoping that a militaria collector with plenty of capital, and no little room, will come in for the ship at the last minute.

It is being sold in a single lot alongside the Hughes Mining Barge it was housed in. The CIA built the barge in 1974 as part of an attempt to retrieve parts of a Soviet submarine that lay on the Pacific Ocean.

The online auction ends on May 4. Bids currently stand at $100,420.

The HMS Ark Royal aircraft carrier was auctioned off for scrap metal last year.

Here at Paul Fraser Collectibles we don't have any ships to sell, but we do have a varied range of other militaria, including this autograph from second world war Dam Busters hero Guy Gibson.