First published in London in 1837, this study by Captain T.F. Simmons, R.A. (Royal Artillery) bears the full title Ideas as to the Effect of Heavy Ordnance Directed Against and Applied by Ships of War, Particularly with Reference to the Use of Hollow Shot and Loaded Shells. Written at a moment when the transition from solid roundshot to explosive shell was reshaping naval warfare, Simmons examined the physics and effects of hollow projectiles — both in attack against enemy hulls and in defense — and argued for changes in how navies thought about their armament. His work appeared just a decade before the Battle of Sinop (1853), where Russian shell guns devastated an Ottoman wooden fleet and made the arguments in this volume suddenly urgent for every navy in the world.
The document runs 135 text pages plus six plates and is presented here as a single PDF. We gratefully acknowledge Bolling Smith of the Coast Defense Study Group for making this document available.
Using the viewer: Use the Full Table of Contents button (bottom-right) to jump to any section. Pages are numbered i–vii (front matter), 1–135 (text), and Pl. 1–6 (plates). The download button saves a local copy (12 MB).