A set of acoustical arrays has been constructed, the shapes of which are configurated in accordance with the cylindrical geometry of the nearfield of the shells (12–20 in.‐diameter). Some are double layer arrays, and directly give the acoustic intensity of radiated noise through the array. Other give the dynamic pressure in the immediate vicinity of the shell, and reflect both propagating and nonpropagating fields, like those associated with subsonic flexural waves. The studied shells reflect a wide assortment of usual shell technologies in torpedoes or ship building: steel, aluminum alloys, glass, or carbon‐fiber reinforced resins; ribbed shells, more or less disturbed by internal fittings, etc. They are mechanically excited by various arrangements of piezoelectric shakers driven by recurrent pulses. When the measurements are plotted as time/space recordings, they give a descriptive image of wave propagating in the shells: phase and group velocities, damping, and scattering on all discontinuities of the shell, which is generally the main phenomenon to explain the effective propagation of vibrations along realistic shiplike structures.