Objective To explore the effects of surface warship environment on attention ability, comprehension ability and memory of soldiers.Methods A total of 191 surface warship soldiers were selected by cluster sampling method, and 160 on shore soldiers were enrolled as controls. The attention ability, comprehension ability and memory were measured by basic psychological measuring instrument, comprehension test subscale in Wechsler adult intelligence scaleChinese revised and picture recall subtest in Wechsler adult memery scale.Results The total number of errors in paying attention to assigned tasks of surface warship soldiers was significantly higher than those of on shore soldiers (P＜0.01) and senior noncommissioned officers of surface warships (P＜0.01). Surface warship soldiers had significantly lower scores of comprehension ability than on shore soldiers (P＜0.01). The comprehension ability scores of senior noncommissioned officers of surface warships were significantly higher than those of surface warship soldiers (P＜0.05) and the junior noncommissioned officers of surface warship (P＜0.05). There was no significant difference in the score of picture recall ability between surface warship soldiers and on shore soldiers (P＞0.05), or among surface warship soldiers, the junior noncommissioned officers and senior noncommissioned officers of surface warships (P＞0.05).Conclusion The surface warship soldiers’ attention and comprehension abilities are significantly lower than those of on shore soldiers, and there is no significant difference in memory between the 2 groups.