Abstract： Objective　To study the influence and significance of long-distance voyage in a submarine on the metabolism of iron, copper, zine and magnesium in the submariners.Methods　The investigated submariners were (1) voyage group(the members of this group attended a twenty day long-distance voyage) and (2) non-voyage group (the members of this group did not attended the voyage). Serum samples were collected from all members of these two groups and the contents of four elements (iron, copper, zinc and magnesium) were determined by using a J/38S plasma spectrograph (made in France). Meanwhile, independent correlation analyses were performed for the changes of these elements. Results　The contents of the four elements of the after voyage group, the pre-voyage group and the non-voyage group were as follows respectively: iron(33.51±2.04)，(24.17±2.61) and (25.12±1.46)μmol/L， copper(14.58±2.60),(13.90±2.23) and (13.11±3.04)μmol/L， zinc(9.84±2.84),(17.43±3.75) and (17.11±2.42)μmol/L， magnesium(0.817±0.099),(1.151±0.222) and (1.154±0.091)mmol/L. When compared with that of both the pre-voyage group and the non-voyage group, the content of iron of the after-voyage group was obviously increased (P＜0.05), the content of copper was not significantly changed (P＞0.05), the content of zinc was decreased markedly (P＜0.01) as well as the content of magensium (P＜0.05). Independent correlation analyses among these four elements showed that there were positive correlation between iron and copper (r＝0．6077　P＜0.05);there were negative correlation between iron and zinc (r＝-0.3986　P＜0.05), between copper and zinc (r＝-0.8094　P＜0.01), and between copper and magnesium (r＝－0．4884，P＜0.05). There were no significant correlation between iron and magnesium (r＝-0.1899　P＞0.05) and between zinc and magnesium (r＝-0.1739　P＞0.05). Conclusions　Long-distance voyage in a submarine had notable influence on the contents of some elements in the submariners. Therefore attentions should be paid for the regulation of the balances of some elements in the submariners during long-distance voyage. It is also important to take notice of the interrelation of some elements when doing combined study of them.