The Self-Mooring Autonomous Underwater Vehicle is a fully autonomous underwater vehicle that possesses a one-time mooring capability. In a typical mission profile, the AUV will ingress to a desired mooring location, release an anchor, and moor itself on the ocean floor. At some time later, perhaps up to a year later, it will release the mooring line and swim to a desired egress location. The AUV is rated for max depth 500 m. The battery stores are sized so that ingress and egress are a total of 100 nautical miles at 4 knots speed. In a typical application, a payload sensor operates while the AUV is moored.