(CNN) They were built to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to aid the allied effort in World War I, but wound up unused, abandoned, stripped and finally scuttled.

Almost a century on, the "ghost fleet" of Mallows Bay in the Potomac River, 30 miles south of Washington D.C., is positively brimming with life again.

Nature has taken hold amid the rotting hulls and rusted bows of the scores of historic vessels, with flora and fauna inundating the areas where sailors and passengers once stood.

"It has become this really amazing mecca for wildlife," Joel Dunn, president and CEO of Chesapeake Conservancy , told CNN.

"You've got these osprey nests on the front of the boats, and heron rookeries, bats breeding in the hull of the ships -- it's a really rich wildlife and historical location."

Located near Nanjemoy in Charles County, Maryland, Mallows Bay is not only treasured by locals -- it could be on the brink of wider recognition thanks to efforts to designate it a national marine sanctuary.

It is one of two sites -- the other is on Lake Michigan in Wisconsin -- being considered for sanctuary status by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).

The announcement made by President Obama in October 2015 was the first time since 2000 that an official nomination for national marine sanctuary status had been made.

If successful, Mallows Bay will join 14 existing ecological havens including the Florida Keys and Thunder Bay in Lake Huron -- one of the five Great Lakes -- where nearly 100 vessels have been discovered to date, earning it the nickname "Shipwreck Alley."

Don Shomette, a marine archeologist helping efforts to get Mallows Bay listed as a protected site, is quietly confident the bid will succeed.

"I took some folks from NOAA down there and they were stunned when they saw the place," Shomette told CNN.

"We have 185 archeologically-documented shipwrecks in a 14-square-mile area, which makes it one of the most densely-populated places in the western world for historic vessels."

Ghosts from the past

Shomette is the author of "Ghost Fleet of Mallows Bay And Other Tales of the Lost Chesapeake" -- a book borne of a deep-rooted attachment to the site which began on a camping trip with his father in the 1950s.

"I was just into my teens. We went down the river in a small boat and camped at an old civil war wharf -- which is still there," Shomette recalls.

"We told ghost stories that night and the next morning the river was covered with fog — you couldn't see more than two feet.

"We started downriver and ran into a waterman and he said: 'Are you boys going to see the ghost fleet?' And it sent shivers down my spine.

"About 10 minutes later we came underneath the bow of one of the ships looming out of the fog. It was just one of those memorable moments in a young boy's life."

Several years later, Shomette conducted a painstaking survey of the site which revealed the presence of a confederate blockade runner from the American Civil War.

Another, the Accomac, a steel-hulled ferry built in 1928, saw service in World War II before winding up in Mallows Bay in 1973 after it was decommissioned following a fire on board.

The majority of ships clustered in Mallows Bay, however, date back to the early 20th century. The so-called "ghost fleet" was part of an unprecedented shipbuilding program undertaken by the U.S. to assist its European allies during World War I

"When America entered the war in April 1917, two out of four ships leaving a British, French or Italian port was being sunk," Shomette explains. "So the process of continuing the war was going to go in Germany's favor."

Germany's tactic of "unrestricted submarine warfare" targeted not just military vessels but merchant and passenger ships too — the R.M.S. Lusitania, torpedoed in May 1915, was the most high-profile sinking, killing around 1,200 on board -- 10% of them Americans.

'A million men building ships'

With the allies needing boats, and fast, President Woodrow Wilson answered the call for help, setting up the Emergency Fleet Corporation to build and operate merchant and military fleets.

"Within a year we had a million men building ships, cutting the timber, mining the iron for them, building the machinery for them. At one point we became the greatest shipbuilding nation in the history of the world," Shomette says.

"We had to create from nothing a shipping industry that was going to build a thousand wooden ships in 18 months -- normally it would take a year and a half to build a wooden steam ship."

At Hog Island in Pennsylvania, one of three major steel shipyards built by the government, 50 shipways extended for a mile and a quarter down the Delaware River. At its peak, its 30,000-strong workforce was launching vessels every five to six days.

Photos: Opulent icebreaker can reach earth's remotest corners Photos: Opulent icebreaker can reach earth's remotest corners New kid in town – Billionaires who want to escape to the ends of the Earth would need a boat fit for an army; a warship that can sail the seven seas, and in style. Step forward, the SeaXplorer -- the toughest superyacht on the planet.

Hide Caption 1 of 12 Photos: Opulent icebreaker can reach earth's remotest corners Uncharted territory – It has been designed by Damen Group, one of the world's leading luxury shipbuilders, which also creates vessels fit for war. The Dutch firm hopes SeaXplorer will blur the lines between the two -- billing it as "the first purpose-built, Polar Code-compliant range of expedition yachts, with true global capability -- from extreme polar to remote tropical areas." Hide Caption 2 of 12 Photos: Opulent icebreaker can reach earth's remotest corners Closer to the action – "Our warships are very capable vessels that outperform any others, in terms of speed and range. But there's no luxury accommodation, purely just for crew," SeaXplorer's marketing manager Victor Caminada tells CNN. "That triggered us to see what a luxury vessel would require -- much more storage, spare parts. You need to be more self-sufficient than on usual superyachts when in tropical destinations, and even more so in areas where there's ice." Hide Caption 3 of 12 Photos: Opulent icebreaker can reach earth's remotest corners Ice cool – Vessels breaking their way through Antarctic ice may be nothing new -- but for a luxury ship, it's unheard of. The SeaXplorer, however, is able to break new ground. Its designers say the patented Sea Axe double-acting hull means it can thrust through challenging ice up to a meter thick -- a result of thousands of hours invested into research and development. Hide Caption 4 of 12 Photos: Opulent icebreaker can reach earth's remotest corners Breaking the mould – "Few vessels can break through ice and the ones that can are not luxury yachts, they're 'ice-bergers,' which are effective but not very comfortable," Caminada explains. "With this concept, we have combined the two and added on superyacht accommodation for the owners to stay in." Hide Caption 5 of 12 Photos: Opulent icebreaker can reach earth's remotest corners New frontier – Damen Group says 90% of superyachts never venture any further than the Mediterranean or Caribbean Seas. So will the yachting crowd be in any hurry to ditch the harbors of Monte Carlo and Saint-Tropez and sample more severe conditions?

"Not everyone is into sitting in front of an anchor in Central Bay," Caminada says. "People, particularly young people, think there is a new way of having an extreme luxury holiday in a very cool fashion -- with the SeaXplorer now they can go to places they really haven't been able to visit before."

Hide Caption 6 of 12 Photos: Opulent icebreaker can reach earth's remotest corners Part of the family – SeaXplorer comes in a range of three options, from 65 meters (213 feet) in length to 100 meters (328 feet). The smallest holds 32 guests and crew, while the largest caters for 80 people and weighs 7,000 gross tons. Hide Caption 7 of 12 Photos: Opulent icebreaker can reach earth's remotest corners Gadgets galore – For a glorified warship, the SeaXplorer comes loaded with its fair share of billionaire toys. The 100 boasts two helicopters, two lifeboats, four zodiacs, one expedition RHIB , one dive support boat, one luxury tender, two submersibles and four wave-runners to have some fun with. Hide Caption 8 of 12 Photos: Opulent icebreaker can reach earth's remotest corners Earth's explorer – "People like to do new things, and one of those is to visit new places and do expeditions," Caminada says. "A younger generation of superyacht owners, or potential owners, want to do things like go in a helicopter or go skiing, or look at marvelous wildlife. But until now, superyachts have not been capable of doing that. This is the first boat of its kind." Hide Caption 9 of 12 Photos: Opulent icebreaker can reach earth's remotest corners Stylish sailing – "You can visit all these new places with a level of comfort never seen before," Caminada says of the SeaXplorer's on-board experience, which includes a dive center, gym, sauna and swimming pool, as well as observation and sky lounges. Hide Caption 10 of 12 Photos: Opulent icebreaker can reach earth's remotest corners All yours – The SeaXplorer can be ready for use within four years of signing on the dotted line. But how much will the world's toughest superyacht cost?

"We've received very serious inquiries and are speaking to potential clients soon," Caminada says. "Unfortunately, we're not allowed to publish the price! But I can say it's a very sophisticated vessel with very high-end technology, which makes it expensive..." Hide Caption 11 of 12 Photos: Opulent icebreaker can reach earth's remotest corners Expanding horizons – "It's a whole new clientele that this concept is going to appeal to," Caminada adds. "It's uncharted territory and it's going to be an eye-opener to a lot of people who are not into the traditional yachting world -- they might think, 'Now, this is something I'd like to do with a boat.'" Hide Caption 12 of 12

Contracts to build the wooden cargo ships were sent out to shipyards across the U.S. There were eight different designs ranging between 270-300 feet (80-90 meters) in length.

Nearly 400 were completed before the end of the war in November 1918. A handful were sold, some finding work ferrying cargo up and down the Pacific coast and to South America, Shomette says. But for longer, transatlantic trips they were considered uneconomical because of their size -- they could only carry around 1,800 tons of freight.

In 1922, the majority were sold for a song to the Western Marine & Salvage company, which set about stripping out reusable metals and parts before burning and sinking the remains.

The company went bust at the start of the Great Depression in 1929, and wildcat salvagers moved in to pick away at the scraps. In the early 1940s, Bethlehem Steel -- America's largest shipbuilder at the time -- set about what proved to be another doomed salvage operation.

Back to nature

The vessels have since slowly slipped into nature's grasp, in some places completely consumed, almost unidentifiable.

"At low tide all you see is these forest of things sticking up and at the north end of the bay," Shomette says.

"It looks like shore, but it's ships -- bow to stern, bow to stern -- I call these the flowerpot ships. Each of those ships have become islands -- some have trees 30-40 feet tall ... It's very exotic, it's just beautiful."

In the wider Chesapeake Bay area, ospreys have thrived in recent years after almost being wiped out by the pesticide DDT during the mid-20th century.

The unique habitat of Mallows Bay has helped them and other birds of prey rebound in population since the agricultural insecticide was banned in the U.S. in the early 1970s.

Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Strike a pose – It's not a ghostly apparition, but one of the photographs by Viennese artist Andreas Franke, which was displayed aboard sunken ship USNS General Hoyt S.Vandenberg and only accessible to competent divers. Hide Caption 1 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Water works – After four months sitting at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the photos became discolored with salt stains and algae. "The sea life had created new images. It's very cool, they almost look like Polaroids," said Franke. Hide Caption 2 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Packing a punch – The pictures have now been displayed in a gallery on land; the Studios of Key West. "They're stunning photographs technically. But it also starts to veer into performance art," gallery director, Jed Dodd, said. Hide Caption 3 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Time travel – The 12 images all feature the Vandenberg, which was a U.S. military transport ship during World War Two. In the 1960s it was used by the Navy as a missile range vessel, and in 1998 it starred in the sci-fi film Virus. Hide Caption 4 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Brave new world – Sunk in 2009, the Vandenberg is now the second-largest artificial reef in the world, boasting a diverse range of marine animals and plant life. Hide Caption 5 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Divers' paradise – "If you're a diver and you see a gallery down there, it's absolutely unique, something you'd never expect. The cool thing is, the shots are done on the same boat they're hanging from," Franke said. Hide Caption 6 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Diving new depths – More than 10,000 divers visited the underwater gallery. "It's unique. Nobody has ever done a photography exhibition underwater before," said Dodd. Hide Caption 7 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery A new perspective – "One of the cool things with an underwater gallery is you're floating, so you can see the artworks from so many different angles," Franke said. Hide Caption 8 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Inspiring images – The Vandenberg's rich history gave Franke inspiration for his World War Two era scenes. A huge team of models, make-up artists and costume designers helped create the evocative photos in studio. Hide Caption 9 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Testing times – Despite being protected between two sheets of plexiglass and sealed with silicon in a steel frame, the images were not left completely untouched by the ocean. Hide Caption 10 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Interesting effect – "At the beginning we did one test on a smaller print and after two months it had no marks. But the bigger images were a little more flexible and more susceptible to water -- they're only 95% perfect but I'm still so happy with them," Franke said. Hide Caption 11 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Sea here – "What works so beautifully is how the water has seeped in -- it's almost as if the ocean has become a collaborative partner in the process," Dodd said. Hide Caption 12 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery The fish fantastic – "It's a huge empty ship with fish swimming around -- at 27 meters below the surface, the sunlight is this beautiful blue green color. I shot the models in the studio with the same lens, so the images matched," Franke said. Hide Caption 13 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Work of art – Franke went diving on the Vandenberg six times, taking more than 1,000 photographs which he then whittled down to the final 12. Hide Caption 14 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Lights, camera, action – "I used an underwater camera to shoot open locations where I thought I could add people in," Franke said. Hide Caption 15 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Ocean is key – "For a place like Key West, where you're never more than a few blocks from the beach, people have a very special relationship with the water," Dodd said. Hide Caption 16 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Baroque Barbados – Franke's latest project features 12 images on the sunken SS Stavronikita, off the coast of Barbados. Hide Caption 17 of 18 Photos: Ghostly underwater photo gallery Eerie imagery – The artist was inspired by the Caribbean country's history as an English settlement and the abundance of coral. "The European style fits better with the yellow tones and growth," he said. Hide Caption 18 of 18

Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle An image of what the $450 million superyacht "A" will look like when building is complete. The 143-meter vessel will boast cutting edge technology and a 54-strong crew to look after those on board. Hide Caption 1 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle The brainchild of Russian billionaire Andrey Milnichenko, who is worth an estimated $9 billion, it was designed by Frenchman Philippe Starck and has a glass observation pod at the base of the vessel. Hide Caption 2 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle Want to make sure your superyacht is at the front of the shipping register? The alphabetically-aware Melnichenko christened "A" so to make sure no boat could appear in front of it.

Hide Caption 3 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle "A" is at the vanguard of boat design, following on from the 2013-built Solandge. It features a large covered swimming pool and an outdoor jacuzzi. The are three jet skis, two speedboats and a golden staircase centrally on board. Hide Caption 4 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle While Solandge has a cinema, Quattroelle houses an art gallery. It also has superyacht staples such as a vast swimming pool, jet skis, a speedboat and a large gym. Oh, and an eight-person spa. Hide Caption 5 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle Lit up in the night sky of Nice's harbour is Katara, owned by the Emir of Qatar. A 124-meter bed of luxury, it is one of the most closely guarded secrets on the seas. Hide Caption 6 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle A crew of 55 is on board Al Mirqab to look after its 24 guests. Entertainment options include a cinema to more than one outdoor bar, an indoor swimming pool and an outdoor jacuzzi. It belongs to Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, of Qatar. Hide Caption 7 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle It is a feature of the Monaco Grand Prix for Force India team owner Vijay Mallya's boat Indian Empress to be moored in the harbor and to host a party or two. There have been rumors Mallya sold the boat but those remained unconfirmed. Hide Caption 8 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle A former World War II frigate, it was most famous as the yacht of Aristotle Onassis who revamped it at a cost of $4m and named it Christina O after his daughter. It underwent a more recent $50m refit and can be hired out. Hide Caption 9 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle Nirvana is built over six decks with a 7.5-meter swimming pool and a helicopter pad on the sundeck. Much smaller than the other yachts, it can host 12 guests in all with a master deck boasting a smaller pool and private deck. Hide Caption 10 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle Eclipse is the motor yacht of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and is a staggering 163.5 meters long. Squeezed into that are two helicopter pads, two swimming pools, a disco, 24 guest cabins and a submarine that can submerge 50 meters. Hide Caption 11 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle The first of two entries from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. With a glass-bottom swimming pool, recording studio and submarine it is the height of luxury but is also loaned out for scientific research projects. Hide Caption 12 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle Allen's second-choice vessel is Tatoosh, a mere snip at $100m when he bought it in 2001. It created headlines when the son of the President of Equatorial Guinea hired it for £400,000 so the rapper Eve could perform for him. Hide Caption 13 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, emir of Dubai, owns this 158-meter monster named Dubai. The maximum 24 guests on board can enjoy the cinema, disco, gym, helicopter and submarine should they so desire. Hide Caption 14 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle The ninth largest yacht in the world when built, the Lady Moura has since slipped out of the top 30. Owned by Saudi Arabian businessman Dr Nasser al-Rashid, it houses a pool that can be indoors or out as the weather befits. It famously ran aground at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. Hide Caption 15 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle The good news is Serene can be hired, the bad news is that apparently cost Bill Gates $5m when he did so. Owned by Russian vodka tycoon Yuri Scheffler, the build cost $330m. Hide Caption 16 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle Built in 1989, this 90-meter boat is in the ownership of the crown prince of Dubai Sheikh Hamdan. At capacity it requires a staff of 71. Hide Caption 17 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle Covering eight floors, Topaz is thought to have cost in the region of $500m and stretches to 147m in length. Made in Germany, it's home is supposedly in the Cayman Islands but boasts owners from the United Arab Emirates. Hide Caption 18 of 19 Photos: Super yachts: From A to Quattroelle Once in the ownership of Oracle boss Larry Ellison, this boat was formerly known as Katana but now boasts the title Enigma and is owned by Aidan Barclay, the son of British billionaire David Barclay, who owns the Daily Telegraph. Enigma has a top speed of 30 knots. Hide Caption 19 of 19

"They're sort of symbols for the Chesapeake Bay in a sense and a symbol for what the environmental movement can do when they put their minds to it," conservancy chief Dunn says.

"To be able to see them on every dock, post and shipwreck in the Chesapeake is heartening and a story of great educational value for the public at large."

Local streams also support rare fish species such as the longnose gar and the warmouth , says Dunn, and Chesapeake Bay is an important nursery habitat for striped bass.

"The Potomac River is a treasured resource. It's one of the major contributors of freshwater to the Chesapeake and it has this wonderful combination of history, recreational opportunities and natural beauty," Dunn adds.

For Shomette, the educational benefits are key to the overall strategy plan. Along with encouraging more tourists to visit the area, he wants to see more kids kayaking around the vessels, like he did all those years ago, watching the ships and wildlife evolve.

"One of the things we want to do is adopt a ship for the high schools, so a school can go out to its ship to find out what plants are growing, what features are devolving, what features are disappearing, occupation of birds," he says.

"It would also contribute to the long-term assessment of that ship."

Several hurdles remain before Shomette and Dunn can start celebrating, but they have reason to be optimistic of a positive decision next year.

According to the Chesapeake Conservancy, more than 60 local organizations and constituents have already backed the proposal, and the response from two public meetings held locally in November has further buoyed their mood.

"After the environmental impact statement and the public comment period, which is over on January 15, we can move forward. And hopefully we will have a dedication, if everything goes right, on the anniversary of the U.S. entry into WWI.

"It's why we built the greater part of the vessels that are there."