K

A propeller with blade tips curved toward the suction side to reduce tip losses and improve efficiency.

A Japanese heavy-industries and shipbuilding company; the name appears on various marine engines and equipment.

The height of the centre of buoyancy above the keel, a quantity used in stability calculations.

The principal longitudinal member running along the bottom centreline of the hull, the backbone of the ship's structure.

The blocks on a dry-dock or slipway floor on which the ship's keel rests when it is docked or built.

A square or splined length of pipe at the top of a drill string that transmits rotation from the rotary table to the string.

A small block fitted into matching slots to lock two components together so they rotate as one, such as a propeller on a shaft.

A method of securing a fixed-pitch propeller to its shaft by an interference fit without a key, the propeller boss being expanded hydraulically over a tapered shaft.

The slot machined in a shaft or boss to receive a key.

A measure of a fluid's resistance to flow under gravity, equal to its dynamic viscosity divided by its density, used to specify fuels and oils.

A valve in the ship's bottom (a sea valve) controlling the connection between a sea chest or seawater system and the sea.

The height of the metacentre above the keel, equal to KB plus BM, used with KG to find the metacentric height.

Abnormal, noisy combustion in an engine caused by uncontrolled ignition, which can damage the engine; its tendency depends on the fuel and engine condition.

A unit of speed equal to one nautical mile per hour, the standard measure of a ship's speed.

A sharp change in direction of plating or of a line of the hull, where the surface turns at an angle.

A fixed or steerable duct surrounding a propeller that increases thrust at low speed, used on tugs and trawlers needing high pull.