Further developments led to shells which would fragment into smaller pieces. Its fragments could do considerable damage, but each shell broke into only a few large pieces. In a gunpowder-based shell, the casing was intrinsic to generating the explosion, and thus had to be strong and thick. Metonymically, the term 'shell', from the casing, came to mean the entire munition. Early grenades were hollow cast-iron balls filled with gunpowder, and 'shells' were similar devices designed to be shot from artillery in place of solid cannonballs ('shot'). Gunpowder is a low explosive, meaning it will not create a concussive, brisant explosion unless it is contained, as in a modern-day pipe bomb or pressure cooker bomb. The shape is usually a cylinder topped by an ogive-tipped nose cone for good aerodynamic performance, and possibly with a tapered boat tail but some specialized types differ widely. tanks, assault guns, and mortar carriers), warships, and autocannons. Shells are usually large-caliber projectiles fired by artillery, armored fighting vehicles (e.g. Words cognate with grenade are still used for an artillery or mortar projectile in some European languages. Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used.Īll explosive- and incendiary-filled projectiles, particularly for mortars, were originally called grenades, derived from the French word for pomegranate, so called because of the similarity of shape and that the multi-seeded fruit resembles the powder-filled, fragmentizing bomb. Modern usage sometimes includes large solid kinetic projectiles, which are more properly termed shot.

Originally it was called a bombshell, but 'shell' has come to be unambiguous in a military context. All have fuzes fitted.Ī shell, in a military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. It could be fired from any standard 155 mm (6.1 inch) howitzer (e.g., the M114 or M198). US scientists with a full-scale cut-away model of the W48 155 millimeter nuclear artillery shell, a very small tactical nuclear weapon with an explosive yield equivalent to 72 tons of TNT (0.072 kiloton). From left to right: 90 mm shrapnel shell, 120 mm pig iron incendiary shell, 77/14 model – 75 mm high-explosive shell, model 16–75 mm shrapnel shell. Some sectioned shells from the First World War.

For the small arms cartridge, see shotgun shell. This article is about the artillery projectile.

Illuminate hc