Sound propagation in water is an important factor affecting sub-marine search operations in dive position. Knowing the distribution of sound propagation in seawater is essential for both submarines and surface ships in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations. The article is a review and presents examples of sound wave propagation emitted from surface and submarine ships during sea search opera-tions. The aim of the article is to illustrate the propagation of sound waves in sea water depending on the location of the source of sound emitted by surface ships or submarines. Of course, the presented examples are general in nature, typical for ideal images of sound propagation and do not take into account their variability that oc-curs in real situations.