Abstract: An apparatus for gas-shielded arc welding comprises a mechanism (1) for guiding and feeding an electrode to a welding zone (3), a nozzle (4) for feeding a protective gas medium to the welding zone (3) and a TV transmission camera (6) for realtime monitoring of the welding process. A cover plate (8) made of an optically transparent material is provided at the end (7) of the gas nozzle (4) which is remote from the welding zone (3), and a lens (9) of the TV camera (6) is installed above the cover plate (8) coaxially therewith. The distance ("a") from the cover plate (8) to the lens (9) is selected in such a manner that the zone (3) of sharpness of the lens is located beyond the edge (11) of the gas nozzle (4) which is adjacent to the welding zone (10) and extends over the components of the welding process.An apparatus for gas-shielded arc welding is designed preferably for welding thick plate materials, for example, pressure vessel casings.