Contact explosion damage prediction of circular steel plates is of interest to the naval architects and warship designers. During contact explosion, a fraction of the explosive energy goes for plastic deformation and fracture of the plate. Experiments were conducted on air backed circular high strength low alloy (HSLA) steel plates to establish this fraction. There was a large amount of plastic deformation preceding fracture in the contact exploded plates. The deformation contour was found to be spherical showing maximum absorption of energy for the depth of bulge attained. The radius of penetration of the test plate was obtained by applying the terminal strain to fracture and the non-uniform strain distribution in the target plate. A case history is presented where the current predictions are compared with the existing empirical methodology and experimental data.