Summary: The perfectly matched layer (PML) is a widely used technique for truncating unbounded domains in numerical simulations of wave propagation problems. In this paper, the PML technique is used with a standard one-way model to solve a benchmark problem for underwater acoustics modeling. Accurate solutions are obtained with a PML layer with a thickness of only a quarter of the wavelength. The effect of a PML is analyzed in a perturbation analysis for waveguides.