Abstract: Based on the thin shell theory and the viscoelastic theory, the modal characteristics of a viscoelastic laminated cantilever thin cylindrical shell are obtained by a semi-analytical method. Firstly, the dynamic model for the host shell and the constraining layer is established based on the Love's shell theory combining with the consideration of the deformation coordination and the interatomic forces of the viscoelastic damping layer, and the first-order ordinary differential equations of the whole component are derived in the state vectors by the transfer matrix method. Then, the natural frequencies, the modal loss factor and the three-dimensional modal shapes are obtained by means of a high-precise integration method, which are compared with the results by the finite element method. The example results show that the transfer matrix method is effective to obtain the modal vibration characteristics of the viscoelastic laminated cantilever thin cylindrical shell.