Advantages of CPP

1. Allow greater manoeuvrability

2. Allow engines to operate at optimum revs
3. Removes need for reversing engines
4. Reduced size of Air Start Compressors and receivers
5. Improves propulsion efficiency at lower loads

Disadvantages of CPP
1. Greater initial cost
2. Increased complexity and maintenance requirements
3. Increase stern tube loading due to increased weight of assembly, the stern tube bearing
diameter is larger to accept the larger diameter shaft required to allow room for OT tube
4. Lower propulsive efficiency at maximum continuous rating
5. Prop shaft must be removed outboard requiring rudder to be removed for all prop
maintenance.
6. Increased risk of pollution due to leak seals

Transverse Thrust One of the most common concerns mentioned by many officers,
and quite rightly so, is the uncertainty as to which way the bow will cant, if at all when a
controllable pitch (CP) propeller is put astern. This is also something the pilot needs to
know when he comes on board. To answer this question, it is first necessary to know
which way the propeller is turning when it is viewed from astern. With the majority of CP
propellers, it is in an anti-clockwise direction and they are called left-handed. It is
important, however when informed that a CP ship is left-handed, that it is not confused
with a fixed pitch left-handed ship, because the CP propeller, it should be remembered,
rotates the same way all the time. When the pitch is set for stern power, it is only the
angle of the blades that has changed and the propeller is still rotating anticlockwise or
left-handed. The effect is now similar to a fixed pitch right-handed propeller working
astern. The flow of water through the propeller is directed up onto the starboard quarter
and may be strong enough to thrust the stern to port so that the bow is seen to cant or
‘kick’ to starboard.

It is important to note that the transverse thrust on some ships with a CP propeller may
be weak and unreliable, due to vortices or turbulence around the propeller blades. This
is usually the result of specific design limitations and might, for example, occur when a
CP propeller is designed to operate at slow speeds, with fine pitch settings, but high
shaft revolutions. In another example, if the pitch is altered from ahead to astern, some
of the inner or lower sections of the blades may be set at rather crude angles and this,
too, can create vortices around the propeller. These characteristics can also have a
detrimental effect on the maximum stern power available when compared to a similar
ship with a fixed pitch propeller. It is, therefore, advisable to exercise some caution
when anticipating the effects of stem power on some CP ships.