Abstract: Buckling and ultimate strength of hull plate and stiffened panel are important contents in the de-sign of ship structures, have achieved plenteous results in recent years. The research development of buck-ling and ultimate strength of steel hull plate and stiffened panel in the past decade at home and abroad is re-viewed for the convenience of carrying out studies and researches. The case of static loading is emphatical-ly described, the cyclic loading and dynamic loading are also introduced. A systematical overview is pre-sented for intact structures and damaged structures under single load or combined loads, in accordance with four kinds of research methods, which are experiment, numerical computation method, analytical method and comprehensive approach. The superiority and inferiority of each research method are assessed. Significant achievements are summarized, and six further problems are identified for the future study.