Abstract <p>Direct computational simulation in naval aerohydromechanics can serve as an available toolkit for engineering research both in the design of new marine equipment and in storm tests, replacing model and full-scale experiments. The latter is due to the increased power of computing systems and the level of detail of mathematical models possible for computer realization. The paper presents an interactive computational environment for modeling the dynamics and control of ship maneuvering. This virtual testbed can be considered both as a navigator’s expert environment and as a simulator for improving skills of effective and safe ship navigation in storm conditions. The paper discusses a reasonable balance between the detail of the applied computational models and computational efficiency. The proposed approach can be implemented in various physical fields, where it is required to develop a virtual testbed to study the behavior of complex technical objects: transport systems, experimental facilities of high-energy physics, etc.</p>