13-037-915

NAME – Model 1915 F 1 Fragmentation Grenade

NAME (NATIVE) – Fusante Modele 1915

COMMON NAMES –

TYPE – Fragmentation grenade

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN – France

DATE OF MANUFACTURE – 1915

LENGTH – 9 cm (3.54 in) without fuze, 12.2 cm 4.8 in) with percussion fuze

WIDTH (DIAMETER) – 5.8 cm (2.28 in)

WEIGHT – 0.595 kg (1 lb 5 oz)

EFFECT – Blast and fragmentation

BURST RADIUS – 10 m (11 yards), Danger space extends out to 69 m (75 yards)

FUSE TYPE – Percussion

FUSE INITIATION – Strike on plunger below protective cap

FUSE DELAY – 5 seconds

FILLER – Cheddite #1 (Sodium Chlorate 79%, Dinitrotoluene 16%, Castor Oil 5%)

FILLER WEIGHT – 0.060 kg (2.12 oz)

FILLER EQUIVALENT TO TNT (R.E.) – 0.50

AVERAGE RANGE – 25 to 30 m

COLOR CODE – Black body, brass fuze cover

STATUS – Obsolete

SERVICE – French military

      The may have been one of the most influential hand grenades of World War I.

Illo – Bombas and Grenade – pg 54

Grenade Warfare – Pg53

The F-1 grenade was first put into mass production by the French State in 1915 during the First World War. In May 1915 the first of the F1 grenades (fusante No. 1) appeared in the French military, in limited quantities. This new weapon inherited from the experience of the first months of the war: the shape was made to be more modern, with an external grooves pattern for better grip and easier fragmentation. The second expectation proved deceptive, since the explosion in practice gave no more than 10 fragments (although the pattern was designed to split into all the 38 drawn divisions). The design was proved to be very functional, especially due to its stability compared to other grenades of the same period. Later, the Fusante No. 1 was used en masse by many foreign armies in the period 1915–1940. The F-1 grenade has been used as a basis for the development of many other grenades by different nations, including the US and the Soviet Union.