The thermal responses in a thin cylindrical shell of graphite material with finite length, subjected to an instantaneous thermal shock, are investigated. Closed-form solutions for the thermal stresses and displacements caused by a line source along the circumferential direction are obtained by integrating the fundamental solutions for a point heat source acting on a finite, orthotropic, cylindrical, thin shell. Grade ZTA graphite is used in the numerical examples. As expected, orthotropic thermal and mechanical properties significantly affect the induced displacements and thermal stresses in the shell due to the thermal shocks.