In this paper, the issues of today's maritime hydrography and its state are discussed. The substance of maritime hydrography and its state of development are presented. The maritime hydrography is shown and discussed from three different points of view: as the kind of maritime human activity and special maritime service; as the maritime profession and field of undergraduate and graduate education, and as the branch of science.

In this paper, there are presented the main principles of the navigational and hydrographical provision of ships' special tasks. There are specified the types of ships' tasks, but especially, ships' special tasks. There is discussed the ship's navigation process as the function of the type of the ships tasks. There is also presented the substance of the navigational and hydrographical provision of the ships' special tasks, as well as the development trends of this provision.

In the paper, there is discussed and presented maritime navigation as an operational process, as a field of study and as a branch of applied science. There is shown the content of these forms, parts of navigation as well as relations among them.