Recent automation achievements in the Russian shipbuilding apart, the situation with underwater vehicles can hardly be considered satisfactory. We believe the vessels still have the features to be improved by the implementation of advanced automated control systems. Some of the problems at hand can be solved within the main trends of ship control automation development. Among those is the production of virtual full-scale simulators for the development and debugging of onboard control systems as far as their algorithm packages and software are concerned. As far back as 1980s, basic principles of scaled-down control process simulation were developed. Then, the task was set to establish a facility for the development of unified underwater vehicle models and flexible software to be used not only for real-time parameter updates, but also for model modifications, for the compara¬tive analysis of structural configurations and control algorithms, and the improvement feasibility expertise. The basis laid down by the Trapeznikov Institute of Control Sciences provided a selection of software tools to solve the above tasks. Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering Rubin made use of the research simulator to work with individual issues of control over underwater vehicles. With the tools, full-scale workbenches and research simulators can be made to analyse and develop control algorithms for underwater vehicles operated in various regimes including emergencies, and for operator training. The report describes a practical case of using the research simulator to solve the above tasks: the production of a research simulator to examine and debug the algorithms to control hovering underwater vehicles.