IMHO Flight 800 (supposed exploding fuel tank) was a cover-up of a terrorist missile hit...
Let’s say you are right. Would that missile have been shot off a seaward vessel?
Possibly. That’s one of the few popular conspiracy theories that actually has some serious evidence to back it. But Flight 800 was not an example of a fuel tank explosion attributed to a lightning strike.
MANPADs are heat-seeking missiles. In other words, they target the engines. And, contrary to what you see in the movies, most times it's not a catastrophic explosion that brings the aircraft down, it's just a lack of thrust, or loss of control because of hydraulic problems. When they do miss the engine directly, they usually hit the wings, not the center of the fuselage. Essentially, with big, multi-engine aircraft, shoulder-fired missiles just aren't that effective.
Lastly, at 16K feet the TWA would have been just outside the operational limits of the Stinger II, which is the American-designed, German Built most sophisticated MANPAD out there. For the other Chinese, Pakistani or half a dozen other country's equipment, the plane would most likely have been too high to be hit by a shoulder fired missile.