Objectives  To address the impact of non-zero sideslip angle and input saturation on the heading control of a surface ship, a method based on a backstepping control algorithm is proposed.

  Methods   The actual sideslip angle is obtained through the relative velocity, and heading angle error is amended using the sideslip angle. A pre-filter is used to minimize the impact of speed change when the heading alters. Hyperbolic tangent and Nussbaum functions are introduced to approximate the input constraint, an adaptive law is designed to estimate approximation errors and disturbances in the yaw direction, and a command filter is proposed to simplify the design of the backstepping controller. The stability of the control system is proved by Lyapunov's theory.

  Results  The simulation results show that the proposed controller can effectively reduce the heading output error of a surface ship while simultaneously maintaining a small control input torque.

  Conclusions  The study results can provide reference for the heading control design of surface ships.