Perforated free surface semicircular breakwater is a good energy dissipater, but its wave suppression ability is relatively low, particularly when subjected to lower breakwater immersion depths and waves of longer period. To overcome the limitations of the breakwater, addition of wave screens of different configurations and porosities below the breakwater caisson is proposed in this study. Experiments have been conducted to investigate the hydraulic performance of the test models and to identify the optimum design for the breakwater. The experimental results show that the breakwater with double screen of 25 porosity offers a reasonably good hydraulic efficiency when immersed in limited water depths. Copyright © 2013 by the International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE).