During the slow voyage of ships, the friction-induced vibration noise often occurs in the contact region of the water-lubricated stern bearing and the tail shaft. The lateral vibration can impact the normal motion of the contact surface, then change the dynamic friction force, finally affect the behaviour of the friction-induced vibration. By adding the movement of the stern shaft journal into the normal load description of the dynamic friction, the equation of friction-induced vibration considering the effect of normal vibration was established. Then the effect law of normal vibration on friction-induced vibration was discussed by numerical simulation and test. The results show that the normal vibration would make the friction-induced vibration appear quasi-periodic, chaotic trend, and narrow the speed range in which the noise of friction-induced vibration appears.