I don't think the propellers were damaged at all.
Damage was largely confined to the forward half of the vessel and was concentrated in the areas of the keel and associated bottom plating. Ingress of water to the vessel was contained within deep and double-bottom tanks and caused no adverse effect on stability.
The Damage
• A sounding pipe for No 1 Saltwater Double-Bottom Ballast Tank was found to be fractured within the Forward Tunnel space of the Engine Room and water was gushing into the forward Tunnel space. A tapered, damage control wooden plug was forced into the pipe to arrest the flow before the floodwater in the tank could be pumped out.
• The previously empty No 10 fuel oil overflow tank in the double bottom had also filled and an officer was sent aft to see whether any traces of residue oil were contaminating the ship’s wake. The discovered seepage was reported to the US Coast Guard when a further report was made, the initial report being made 40 minutes after the grounding.
• No 15 freshwater double-bottom tank, which had previously been empty, was full of saltwater and pressurised.
• A cofferdam (between Nos 13, 14 and 15 freshwater double bottom tanks – the latter two later found to be contaminated with seawater – and Nos 8, 9 and 10 fuel oil tanks) was also found to be full.
• No 14 freshwater double-bottom tank was not pressurised and contained seawater.
• The tank top at the bottom of No 3 Hold was discovered to be buckled, possibly from the pressure of the air being compressed by the ingress of water and a damage control team was sent to wedge sturdy wooden shoring between the deck and deckhead in an attempt to prevent any likelihood of the tank-top rupturing under the tremendous pressure with a subsequent flooding of the compartment above.
• The Forward Engine Room void space was making water.
The degree of damage to the shell plating ranged from an intermittent longitudinal rupture in way of the keel strake to general plate indentation and surface scaring.
Internal damage was sustained to associated frames and longitudinals located below the level of the double-bottom tank top.
It was only after QE2 had been placed in the dry dock that the true extent of the damage to the underwater hull became known. In all the damage covered a width of 80 feet over the keel and either side of it and extended over a length of 400 feet aft from the bulbous bow. The keel was covered in indents – some up to 240 feet in length and 14 inches deep – gouges and fractures, some of the latter being from 10 to 70 feet long and a 32 foot length and plates were buckled in place. In total 20 double-bottom tanks had sustained damaged to some extent and the port bilge keel had been severely damaged.
