Ocean structures and vehicles are exposed to severe ocean environment conditions such as waves, winds and currents. When such ocean structures and vehicles are designed, an accurate structure analysis is required to keep the system safely. Hydro-elastic analysis is one of key issues to design such structures and vehicles. In many previous investigations, numerical analyses for hydro-elastic problem have been used. In this study, an experimental analysis is carried out and the circular cylindrical shell is considered. Dynamical characteristics for a circular cylindrical shell are identified by experimental vibration analysis in air and water. The natural frequencies and mode shapes are compared in air and water to obtain hydro-elastic effects. Some interesting results are found in the variation of natural frequencies and damping ratios of the circular cylindrical shell for different water contact depths.