Abstract: Underwater shock loading due to explosion of torpedo or mine may be one of the main threats to the survivability of ship. This has attracted enormous interest in the warship design field, and a large literature dedicate end to the underwater explosion problem over the past several years have been released, however, the behaviors in terms of underwater explosion shock wave, bubble dynamics together with their impacts on the ship structure have not yet been fully revealed. This paper analyzed the characteristics of underwater explosion loads, and summarized the characteristics of structural damages to the ship subjected to underwater explosion. The paper al so outlined the development progresses both in the application and scientific research, ranging from experimental studies, theoretical analyses to numerical methods for the research purpose. The issue has been put forward to address the necessity of basic research, which aims to provide a reference for related researches on warship anti-detonation and anti-shock.