Summary: This paper investigates the linear free vibration of axially moving simply supported thin circular cylindrical shells with constant and time-dependent velocity considering the effect of viscous structure damping. Classical shell theory is employed to express strain-displacement relation. Linear elasticity theory is used to write stress-strain relation considering Hook’s Law. Governing equations in cylindrical coordinates are derived using the Hamilton principle. Equilibrium equations are rewritten with the help of Donnell-Mushtari shell theory simplification assumptions. Motion equations for displacements in axial and circumferential directions are solved analytically concerning to displacement in the radial direction. As the displacement in the radial direction is the combination of driven and companion modes, the third motion equation is discretized using the Galerkin method. The set of ordinary differential equation obtained from the Galerkin method is solved using the steady-state method, which in practice leads to the prediction of the exact frequencies of vibration. By employing multiple scale method the critical speed values of a circular cylindrical shell and several types of instabilities are discussed. The numerical results show that by increasing the mean velocity, the system always loses stability by the divergence instability in different modes, and the critical speed values of lower modes are higher than those of higher modes. As well as the unstable regions for the resonances between velocity function fluctuation frequencies and the linear combination of natural frequencies is gained from the solvability condition of second order multiple scale method. The accuracy of the method is checked against the available data.