The paper describes the electrical and optical properties of underwater discharges in highly inhomogeneous electric fields caused by 1.2/50 ${mu}s$ impulse voltages as functions of the polarity and amplitude of the applied voltage, and various water conductivities. The electric fields are formed by a point-to-plane electrode system. The formation of air bubbles is associated with a thermal process of the water located at the tip of the needle electrode, and streamer coronas can be initiated in the air bubbles and propagated through the test gap with stepped leaders. The fastest streamer channel experiences the final jump across the test gap. The negative streamer channels not only have more branches but are also more widely spread out than the positive streamer channels. The propagation velocity of the positive streamer is much faster than that of the negative one and, in fact, both these velocities are independent of the water conductivity; in addition the time-lag to breakdown is insensitive to water conductivity. The higher the water conductivity the larger the pre-breakdown energy, therefore, the ionic currents do not contribute to the initiation and propagation of the underwater discharges in the test conditions considered.