Where are Titanic's propeller cones?

[Aristide]

Does anyone know where Titanics propeller cones are? When you see the wreck you notice they appear to be gone?

They appear to be missing on both outer propellers?

When you watch old pictures of Olympic and Britannic both have cones on their propellers so its weird they are missing on Titanic. Beside that, they dont look like parts that easily fall off, so i wonder where they went and why they are missing on both sides?

 

[Michael H. Standart]

I don't know if they've been located in the debris field at all, but this should tell you something of the violence of impact with the bottom that they were dislodged at all.

 

[Ioannis Georgiou]

It is believed that they were ripped off during the descent to the bottom. So far as I know they wee not located unless they were but not made public.

 

[Robert T. Paige]

Does anyone know where Titanics propeller cones are? When you see the wreck you notice they appear to be gone?

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They appear to be missing on both outer propellers?

When you watch old pictures of Olympic and Britannic both have cones on their propellers so its weird they are missing on Titanic. Beside that, they dont look like parts that easily fall off, so i wonder where they went and why they are missing on both sides?

My guess is that they were made of lighter and thinner metal and have deteriorated to such an extent that they no longer exist. ???

 

[Aristide]

Its strange because if they felt of because impact, they would just lay there and not fly far away. Also i dont think they could have been corroded away, because Britannic still has her cones attached.

I dont think they could fall off because descent into the abyss. I have no doubt it was a violent process but no way it reached the stress level of their normal umm activity. Those cones manage to stay attached when extreme forces work on them during operation. I have high doubts they would get lost from the fall?

 

[Bob Read]

Hi Aristide: The “cones” are actually known as “fairwaters.” I doubt they were lost during the descent. The impact with the bottom was of such force that the propellers and their fairings were driven upwards many feet, well above the center propeller. That amount of force was more than enough to knock off the lightly constructed fairwaters.

 

[Aristide]

But should they not be quite near then? I doubt they would fly away that far? Or are they stuck in the mud? Were there ever radar meassurement taken?

 

[Samuel Halpern]

Where they ever put on in the first place?

 

[Aristide]

Where they ever put on in the first place?

Thats what i wonder. I think if they broke off on impact they would be pretty close, right?

 

[Bob Read]

There’s no reason to believe they weren’t installed. From what I know the fairwaters were filled with oil. If they weren’t, the pressure differential would have crushed them on the way down. They may be relatively close in the debris field but they may not be easily identifiable.

 

[Doug Criner]

The purpose of fairwaters is to streamline the water flow exiting aft of the propellers. The idea is to reduce turbulence and energy loss due to backpressure against the propellers. The fairwaters would not have absorbed the propulsion thrust of the propellers, and therefore would not have had high structural strength to resist forces perpendicular to their axes. (If a fairwater became damaged or separated during normal ship's operation, that would not have presented a major problem.)

I suspect that they may have been detached due to hydraulic pressure during the ship's plunge. What was the rate of descent of the stern section? That might give a clue to the forces on the fairwaters during the descent? If the fairwaters had survived the descent attached to the propeller hubs, then I think their relatively light weight might have kept them from parting the hubs due to the sudden impact.

 

[titanic401]

But should they not be quite near then? I doubt they would fly away that far? Or are they stuck in the mud? Were there ever radar meassurement taken?

It would probably depend on at what point during the descent they were separated as to where they would have landed.

 

[Aly Jones]

Titanics big 4 funnels were nearly completely or are destroyed, so what hope do the cones have.

 

[Bob Read]

The fairwaters served a dual purpose. As Doug Criner said above, they streamlined the water flow aft of the propellers. The other important function was that they protected the propeller nut from seawater which would cause it to rust to the shaft. They were filled with oil to create an additional barrier against water contact with the propeller nut.

 

[Aristide]

Titanics big 4 funnels were nearly completely or are destroyed, so what hope do the cones have.

I dont think you can compare that, the funnels were huge and blocky but also thin and fragile. The cones are streamlined, smaller and one piece