The invention belongs to the technical field of automation control of ships and the technical field of generator control of ship electric power systems, in particular relates to an excitation control device of a synchronous generator for ships. The device comprises an excitation control mainboard, a human-computer interface and a switching power supply, wherein the excitation control mainboard comprises a CPU main control unit, a data acquisition circuit, an A/D conversion circuit, a real-time calendar clock circuit, a watchdog circuit, a rectifying circuit, an MOSFET driving circuit, a de-excitation circuit, an on-off input circuit, a communication interface circuit and an LCD driving circuit; and the human-computer interface comprises keys, an LCD display and an LED indicating lamp. The invention has the advantages of flexible and convenient installation and use, high measuring accuracy, high execution speed and stable operation, and has the functions of monitoring and controlling the terminal voltage of the synchronous generator in real time, regulating the allocation of the reactive power of the synchronous generator in real time and improving the stability of parallel operation of the synchronous generator. The human-computer interface is abundant, and a CAN communication interface and an upper computer are used for exchanging data. The invention is designed according to the standards of a ship power station and can be widely applied to an automatic control system of a generator set in the ship power station.