Recently, ocean observation is developing from using a single underwater sensor node to employing underwater sensor networks consisting of multiple sensor platforms. Underwater vehicles including underwater gilders and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are important underwater mobile sensor platforms in ocean observation networks. For ocean observation and networking applications, Shenyang Institute of Automaton (SIA), Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a number of underwater vehicles including AUVs and underwater gliders. This paper presents existing and future research efforts in SIA centered around the development, testing, and applications of SIA's underwater vehicles in ocean observations and mobile marine sensor networks.