When considering electrical propulsion installations, the prospects for their development are shown through the development of the energy and shipbuilding industries. Two directions of perspective development of rowing electric installations are allocated. This is the use of homopolar machines with superconducting windings as main generators and propulsion motors and ensuring high energy efficiency of seagoing vessels through the use of optimal control by the criterion of minimum losses. The advantage of propulsion systems made according to the generatorengine (G-E) scheme with homopolar machines with the use of optimal control is shown. An analytical expression for the energy loss is obtained when it is transferred from the primary thermal engine to the propulsion motor and propeller, depending on the state variables of the propulsion system. Graphical dependences of the power losses on the armature current of the machines are presented for various values of the generator armature rotation speed and for various engine armature rotation speeds. A dynamic model of the diesel-electric propulsion system with homopolar machines is generated. The synthesis of optimal variable state controllers for controlling the speed of rotation of the motor armature has been made. For this purpose, the control actions on the propulsion dieselelectric installation, which are optimal for the energy loss criterion, are determined for a fixed value of the engine's rotation speed. A block diagram of the optimal control system for a rowing diesel-electric installation has been constructed for setting the screw speed. Modeling of dynamic processes is carried out, transitional characteristics of state variables of the system are obtained, graphs of the behavior of losses in transient regimes are presented. The effectiveness of the application of optimal control systems in rowing electrical installations using homopolar machines is shown. Keywords: electric propulsion installation with homopolar machines, energy efficient control, power loss, optimal regulator of the state of the propulsion system, criterion for minimizing energy losses, efficiency of constructing optimal control systems.