US authorities have defended the decision to send four of its former navy vessels to the North-East.

The Marine Administration (Marad) responded to criticism from a US ship breaker over the wisdom of sending the so-called Ghost Ships 4,000 miles across the Atlantic to be dismantled.

They have been at Able UK's Graythorpe Dock, in Hartlepool, while planning and recycling licence issues are resolved.

Rival US wrecker Esco Marine said the Government department should not have allowed them to leave the James River to be towed to the North-East when alternative yards in the US were desperate for the £11m contract.

In a letter to Marad, Esco Marine's vice-president, Richard Jaross, said: "It is irresponsible and negligent on behalf of Marad to choose a contractor some 4,000 miles away from the vessels' present location - to a contractor with no established experience in shipbreaking and to a location where environmental and safety standards will be difficult to monitor and track."

He said Marad was in violation of the 2001 National Defense Authorization Act, requiring it to dispose of ships on a best value basis.

He said: "Marad should have taken into consideration the risks involved in towing highly deteriorated and damaged vessels a great distance over the Atlantic Ocean."

However, a Marad spokes-man said the ships were sent to the North-East because of limits on domestic ship scrapping. It had followed all the necessary rules and regulations.

The spokesman said: "Able UK's current capacity to safely hold and dismantle 13 ships at once is roughly equivalent to the current combined holding facility capacity of all four domestic contractors that US Maritime Administration has done business with over the last four years.

"It was determined that towing the vessels to the United Kingdom would be a safe undertaking.

"All of the maritime agencies in both countries that were responsible for overseeing the safety of these tows, approved the safety of the towing operation before they left the United States."