This paper proposes a breaker switching strategy for selective protection of a typical shipboard power system A mapping relationship between the fault characters and the breaker switching strategy is established based on the back propagation neural networks (BPNN). The designing process of the BPNN intelligent protection was described in detail. In order to prove the effectiveness of the proposed protection scheme, a close-loop testing system including power system simulation and fault detection program was established. Moreover, an intelligent protection prototype has been developed, which is tested by the AC radial distribution system. By use of the Hypersim real-time close-loop testing system, further tests are conducted for a more complex system.