Abstract: To address the problem of chattering in the tracking of underactuated surface vessels by sliding mode control, in this paper, we propose a tracking control method based on a super-twisting sliding mode. To realize effective tracking control, we first use the backstepping method to design a virtual control law based on the tracking error. This virtual control law is considered to be a new tracking target, with the actual control law designed using the super-twisting algorithm to realize tracking control of underactuated surface vessels. The simulation results show that the proposed control method can effectively suppress chattering and improve the system control accuracy.