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U.S. MKI production WWI

dano1917

dano1917

RIP
Try as I have I can't seem to come up with the number of U.S. MKI grenades produced in WWI. The U.S. was largely using French equipment I.E. use of French F1 so I assume the MKI production number was not all that high. Add to that the MKII was in use before the wars end the number of MKI's could be pretty low. I sure know 1 thing, the prices of MKI's has sky rocketed in the last 10 years. Used to be able to pick up a decent original MKI with the MKI fuze for about 100.00 and that just isn't so anymore. Anyway back to my original question. Does anyone know the number of U.S. MKI's produced during WWI whether MKI or MKII cut-back fuze......Dano
 

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The first US production requirement for the Mk I was for 21,000,000 for combat use and 2,000,000 inert for training. As time and the war went on though that estimate was raised to 68,000,000 tactical grenades and 3,000,000 for training. The contract for the first 5,000 was put out in August 1917, to the Caskey-Dupree Co., of Marietta, Ohio. The Gorham Manufacturing Co. of Providence, RI ceased its production of silverware and contracted to deliver loaded grenades ready for shipment and was the only contractor to build and operate a manufacturing and loading plant together. By December 1917, contracts were out to several companies to produce the initial 21,000,000 grenades. In May 1918, word came from the AEF that no one wanted any more of the pivot handled design because of problems with it working and people forgetting to pivot the handle to allow the fuze to function. Production ceased. At that point they had about 15,000,000 rough body castings, 3,500,000 assembled, but empty grenades and about 1,000,000 loaded grenades to salvage or destroy. I know this does not give the actual number that were produced, but with millions of them having to be gotten rid of it is funny how difficult it is to find one these days.
 
Thanks again EODGUY. that at least gives me a rough idea. I must say that it was quite a bit higher number than what I expected. Not all that hard to get if you look, but getting one at an "affordable" price is another story. Again I thank you for such a detailed answer. Look up...Dano
 
On the upper right hand of the screen,there is a PDF,click it and a download menu should pop up. Thank you very much EOD......
 
Eodtek said:
Dano,

Being a WWI collector, you need to get a hard copy of "America's Munitions, 1917-1918" as it has every detail down to the number on production of everything for the war effort.

You can get the scanned version here http://books.google.com/books?id=y-...&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false but I rally like having a hard copy in my hands.
Click to expand...
I am not keen on downloading books as I guess i'm from the old store and like my books hard copy. Thanks Eodtek and i'll keep an eye peeled for this book. Somewhere (still packed away) with my books is a book put out by U.S. government in 1920 that numbers and production figures during the war effort but not sure if it has grenade production figures. One of these days i have to get to un-packing boxes in shed (after 6 months I figure it is time. Right now I think i'll have some "Liberty Sausage" and "Liberty Cabbage" but first a cup of joe...Dano
 
dano1917 said:
I am not keen on downloading books as I guess i'm from the old store and like my books hard copy. Thanks Eodtek and i'll keep an eye peeled for this book. Somewhere (still packed away) with my books is a book put out by U.S. government in 1920 that numbers and production figures during the war effort but not sure if it has grenade production figures. One of these days i have to get to un-packing boxes in shed (after 6 months I figure it is time. Right now I think i'll have some "Liberty Sausage" and "Liberty Cabbage" but first a cup of joe...Dano
Click to expand...

A good copy of America's Munitions will run you around $100.00. I have 2 copies and I keep the downloaded version on my work laptop for reference when I am in the field.
 
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