Giant Propeller From SS United States

Newport News, Virginia

What moves an ocean liner from point A to point B? It's not the fuel; it's the propeller, screwing itself through Neptune's domain, shoving the boat ahead of it.

Titanic-sized propellers rarely get appreciated because they're usually under water. And, also, they're tremendously large and heavy. Someone really has to want a propeller to haul one away as a photo op. A huge one -- 34 tons -- stands at the entrance to the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia.

The Virginia propeller comes from the SS United States, which is currently rusting at an off-limits pier in Philadelphia (with 2020 development plans afoot to transform to a "hospitality and cultural space" suitable for some lucky waterfront city).

The colossal five-bladed screw is suspended on an original propeller shaft more than 14 feet off of the ground, and hangs over the edge of a manufactured waterfall.

The spot had once been occupied by another big propeller, but the SS United States propeller is far bigger and reportedly nearly 80 percent heavier than the conventional four-bladed screw that it replaced.