Shock trials are required for the lead ship of each new construction shock hardened ship class. The Navy's Floating Shock Platform (FSP) is used in the acceptance of mission essential items for installation aboard shock hardened ships if the size and weight of the item permits such testing. Live fire shock trials and underwater explosion testing are both complex and expensive. Finite element modeling and simulation provides a viable, cost effective alternative to these tests. This thesis investigates the effects of reducing the amount of fluid mesh required to accurately capture the structural response of a finite element model of the FSP subjected to an underwater explosion. This same approach can be applied to a finite element model of each shock hardened ship class. With reliable results, computer simulation of ship shock trials and underwater explosion testing could become a dependable, cost effective, and time efficient manner for validating surface ship shock hardening requirements.