Objectives  To deal with uncertainties in the quality evaluation of alternative navy vessel designs, the cloud barycenter evaluation method is introduced.

  Methods  The basic concept of cloud theory is expounded upon and the evaluation principle and basic process of the cloud barycenter method are analyzed. The existing cloud barycenter algorithm cannot effectively express the matching degree between quality characteristics and user requirement. The improvement of the cloud barycenter algorithm is realized by defining the quality matching degree. Due to the small amount of data, the accuracy of the evaluation express is insufficient. The evaluation data can be effectively extended through the cloud generator so as to better express the evaluation results. On this basis, the method is analyzed according to alternative vessel design choices.

  Results  The results show that the improved method has good adaptability to the problems, and the evaluation results are in accordance with the quality evaluation requirements of the alternative naval vessel design.

  Conclusions   The findings of this paper can provide valuable references for the application of the cloud barycenter method and new ideas for the selection of alternative navy vessel design.