Artillery shells

[Motneylad]

When were 'Shells' which exploded on impact frist used instead of a solid cannon ball?

[Seanmct]

the first exploding shell/grenade appears to have been around 15 century but weren't really developed till WW1 around 1914

[sddsddean]

There was a half way stage as well. The Royal Navy in the 18th/19th century(around Nelson's time) also used a weapon called a carronade. This fired a 32 pound 'ball'. However, the ball was designed to shatter on impact and it contained hundreds of musket balls and/or grapeshot, which thus decimated the opposing crew.