Description
The Mk 2 was commonly known as a "pineapple" grenade, because of its shape and structure. Grooves were cast into the cast iron shell, which was believed at the time to aid in fragmentation and had the side benefit of aiding in gripping the grenade—this provision gave it the appearance of a pineapple fruit. Although TNT was used as a filling, EC blank fire (smokeless firearm) powder was also used instead in some models due to the tendency of TNT to over-fragment the cast iron body. EC powder produced an adequate amount of fragmentation and did away with the need of a detonator. The detonator was initially replaced by a small length of safety fuse terminated with a black powder igniter charge. Production grenades with the EC powder filler used the M10 series of igniting fuse. It was also commonly referred to as a "frag" grenade. The Mk IIA1 was introduced in 1942 and lacked the bottom filler hole of the Mk II being filled through the fuse well. The Mk II was identified with an all yellow body prior to 1943. They were then painted olive drab for camouflage purposes with a narrow yellow band below the fuse. Repainted yellow grenades usually lacked the yellow band.
The Mk 2 can also be used as a rifle-grenade when attached to a 22mm stabilizer tube and fins, into which a Mark 2 grenade is inserted and then fired from the M7 grenade launcher adaptor.
Read more about this topic: Mk 2 Grenade
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