We design a stable tracking method for a semi-autonomous platform to support routine underwater inspections of underwater structures. A reasonable inspection path of the vehicle is first planned, input signals such as reference posture and reference velocities to the vehicle are calculated. Then a tracking controller is used to track those input commands. The tracking controller has a structure similar to the well-known PD control and the sliding mode control. The stability of this tracking method is proved through the uses of a Lyapunov function. It was also shown that the tracking error is exponentially convergent. Simple relation between control parameters and the exponential factor was derived. Finally, the effectiveness of the method was verified using a series of water tank experiments.