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War_Hymn t1_j3sd2ch wrote

They were specialized weapons that needed extra training and skill to use. Early explosive grenades were much larger and heavier than modern grenades, since their black powder filler was not as powerful as modern explosives, so they needed to have more explosive filler as well as thicker containment in order to be effective.

A typical grenade from the Napoleonic era weighed about 3-4 pounds. In comparison, a Vietnam War-era M67 grenade weighs a little less than 1 lb. Now ask yourself, how far can you throw a 3-4 pound ball? Obviously, the range of these things weren't too good in the hands of regular soldiers, and the ones than were trained to use them (grenadiers) tended to be the biggest and strongest recruits.

This was on land anyways. In the naval setting, they were much more widely used since in ship boarding action, range wasn't as much an issue, and grenades were excellent weapons for clearing defenders below decks.

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VerminReaper t1_j3smyna wrote

If I recall correctly, much of the extra training consisted of learning to say “tow, row, row, row, row, row” for your fellow Grenadiers.

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Helmut1642 t1_j3tlen2 wrote

Grenades were never 3-4lbs, what you are talking about is mortar/cannon shells. Most grenades were ceramic and weighted much less that. They were about the size of a modern cricket ball according to most books I've seen about early modern grenades in the UK. The small blast radius and poor fuses compared to modern grenades made them only used in sieges and storming of fortified works. They were terror weapons like fire lances and other fireworks.
There are accounts of musketeers in the English Civil War carrying a half dozen in their knapsack when storming fortified town. The is one account I remember of grenades being used to force the surrender of church where troops were holding out.

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Boomstick101 t1_j3ubyxy wrote

18th Century grenades used cast iron, not ceramic. They were fairly heavy. Interestingly musket slings were developed for grenadiers allowing them to sling the musket over their back while hurling grenades and holding the long fuse. Also the use of mitre caps and bearskins were worn to allow slinging of the musket instead of a tricorn cap which would catch up in the sling.

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War_Hymn t1_j3v8ldp wrote

>Grenades were never 3-4lbs, what you are talking about is mortar/cannon shells.

I'm pretty sure a mortar or howitzer shell during the Napoleonic Wars weighed much heavier than 3-4 pounds. A shell for a 6 inch howitzer of the French Gribeauval system would had fired a shell that weighed at least 20 pounds. For a large 12 inch siege mortar, it would had been around 150 pounds.

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