The position control for the experimental maneuverable remotely operated underwater vehicle is considered. The problem is to hold the position or to move a short distance without the attitude changing. So, velocity limitations and attitude control are not considered in the paper. Separate control loops for the body frame axes are designed, while the Eath frame position is transformed into the body frame coordinate system. For each axis, the translational dynamics linearized model is experimentally identified as a second-order transfer function. The PID controllers with setpoint weighting are designed via the pole placement optimization procedure using the identified models. Experimental tests of the obtained controllers showed acceptable performance.