This article analyses the basic circuit and design features of compressors for main power units (MPU) with gas turbine engines (GTE) intended for different types of vessels. It has been observed that, in practice, cracks appear in the places where discs join GTE shafts. In such cases the application of traditional non-destructive testing (NDT) method is inefficient; therefore, the acoustic emission (AE) method can be used to control the appearance of cracks in the compressor discs. The tests of a GTE compressor disc have been carried out. It has been proved that the efficiency of the AE method is much higher than that of traditional NDT methods. A characteristic called – criterion can be used as a crack initiation criterion. The offered method is recommended for testing compressor discs in the process of compressor rotor assembly during manufacturing and repair.