[lambda_obrien]

In marine use, as a former ship driver (naval, not commercial, so needs could vary), I would prefer a larger number of small engines I can vector rather than one or two larger engines. It removes the need for tugs from both the maneuverability standpoint since you have vectoring and the safety standpoint since you could have redundant systems.

[spockz]

Don’t many modern ships already have this? I recall watching “Big Ships” or some such on Discovery Channel about 15-20 years ago where they explained ships already having multiple stern and aft, starboard and port, “pods” either with jet streams or rotors.

[lambda_obrien]

Sure, but having driven ships with those, they're not as maneuverable as they could be. It takes time to deploy the pods and often they aren't available at high speed.

[papertokyo]

Now that makes a lot of sense. Unlike side thrusters, you'd be able to use all engines to provide forward movement for max speed while also using the same engines for low speed maneuvering.