This paper starts with the importance and basic physical phenomena of underwater explosion, explaining the background and significance of ship damage and protection research under underwater explosion loads, research progress and status, as well as key challenges. To address these challenges, the paper elaborates on popular underwater explosion theories, models and methods. In terms of theoretical and computational research, a unified theory of bubble dynamics is presented, as well as a transient strong non-linear gas-liquid-solid fully coupled model and numerical method for underwater explosion, which have been used to develop a fundamental industrial software FSLAB capable of solving practical problems in fluid-structure interaction. In terms of experimental research, underwater explosion surrogate experimental methods and model testing methods are elaborated. Based on this, theoretical analysis, computational and experimental results in the field of ship damage and protection under underwater explosion loads are presented and discussed, aiming to provide references for underwater explosion-related research.