Microstructures, Vickers depth profiles and low-temperature toughness of the tempered direct water quenched steels have been evaluated in the experiment. Martensite dominates the direct quenched specimen, and it is brittle at low-temperature toughness test. The toughness of direct quenched steel is improved when it is tempered at 500 °C for 1800 s. However, increasing the tempering temperature from 500 °C to 660 °C has little effect on low-temperature toughness of the steel. The application of offshore steel must avoid bainite formation. Tempering treatment is very effective to improve low-temperature toughness of the martensite dominated structure.