Methods to replicate atmospheric shockwaves in space

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Currently writing a sci-fi novella where two naval forces engage in a massive dogfight. Both have nuclear weapons in the form of fighter-to-fighter missiles, high yield orbital mines, torpedoes, and cluster bombs.

I chose nuclear weapons for the first draft because they were the first thing that came to mind when I thought "I want some big boomy things, some little boomy things, and I want flashy, grand potential destruction by conventional terms".

The technology used by either side is a more developed form of conventional kinetic weaponry.

One side uses large caliber rounds with multiple effects, the other fire's bolts of (mostly ineffective) plasma.

I was approaching the end of the first draft when the thought came to me, "Alright, so these ships burn up from the burning gases released, so incendiary rounds are alright. How does the plasma leave the barrels? Maybe it fires out from a magnetic field generated in the barrel like a gauss gun? And nukes. Okay, and I wrote them as releasing shockwaves. But space lacks an atmosphere. I like the shockwaves though."

I've thought about specifying the nuclear weapons as using nuclear fusion, but I'm still not sure as to what exactly can create powerful shock waves in the vacuum of space that parallels the blow-back affect in an atmosphere'd environment that would justify using explosive weaponry.