A guidance and control algorithm for the heading control of a large underwater vehicle in hover state is proposed. The complexity of the flow field makes it difficult to build an accurate mathematical model for heading control under hover condition. Furthermore, the turning motion in the hover state causes additional vertical hydrodynamic and pitching moments which may affect the control performance of depth and pitching, and even bring safety problems. An H ∞ synthesis method is proposed, in which guidance weighting function is designed for the heading control constraints, sensitivity weighting function for the tracking performance requirements, and uncertainty weighting function for modeling error. Firstly, the hydrodynamic characteristics and constraints of hover and steering are analyzed, and the mathematical model is established. Secondly, based on the analysis of the affection of steering motion on depth and trim state, a control strategy is proposed to suppress interference by setting steering speed and limiting acceleration, which improves the safety of the control algorithm. And then, a H ∞ robust control algorithm based on three kinds of weighting function is designed. Finally, the method is simulated by using submarine model and validated by underwater vehicle experiment.The research in this paper has potential application value for safety and low noise performance for the control of large underwater platform and manned submarines.