The objective of this paper is to investigate the effect of residual stress on fatigue crack growth behavior. For this purpose, submerged arc welding was performed on SM50A steel plate and post weld heta treatment (PWHT) was followed. Residual stress distribution on the weld plate was determined by a hole drilling method and a series of .DELTA.P-const. and .DELTA.K-decreasing fatigue test were performed on the three different regions, i.e. weld metal, HAZ and base metla. Following conclusins were achieved. 1. In "as welded" specimens, tensile residual stresses were produced in the center portion of the specimen while compressive residual stresses were produced near the edges. In PWHT specimens, however, most of the residual stresses were disappeared. 2. The fatigue crack growth behavior in low .DELTA.K region was considerably affected by the presence of residual stress in both "as welded" and PWHT specimens. 3. Because of the relaxation of residual stresses in PWHT condition, the values of m increased from 2.62-2.78 (in the "as welded" condition) to 3.57-3.91 (in the "PWHT" condition)3.91 (in the "PWHT" condition)condition)