| Accession Number | RELAWM07221 |
|---|---|
| Collection type | Technology |
| Object type | Grenade |
| Physical description | Calico, Metal, Wood |
| Location | Main Bld: First World War Gallery: The Anzac Story: Gallipoli: Life at Anzac 1 |
| Maker |
Royal Navy |
| Place made | Ottoman Empire: Turkey, Dardanelles, Gallipoli, Anzac Area (Gallipoli) |
| Date made | 1915 |
| Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
HMS Cornwallis Grenade
Description
Spherical shaped nose piece made from wood and wooden block body inset into a metal cup. Attached to the base of the cup are several pieces of scrap calico to enable stability of the grenade in flight.
History / Summary
During the Gallipoli campaign the Allied and Turkish forces both adopted improvised and specially made weapons, including hand grenades, for the static trench warfare which prevailed from the days soon after the first Allied landings on 25 April 1915.
This is an example of an improvised hand grenade made by members of the Royal Navy battleship, HMS Cornwallis. In June 1915, the senior naval officer at Lemnos sent a signal to all Royal Navy vessels under his command, requesting designs for improvised grenades. The crew of the battleship Cornwallis, then stationed off the Gallipoli beach head providing direct and in-direct fire support to the Allied forces ashore, submitted an idea for a bomb which would burst on impact with the ground, but like all such percussion devices of the period, despite its stabilising tail, it could not be relied upon to operate as planned.
The troops continued to use the primitive jam-tin bombs, and this prototype was the only one built.