Would Coconut Grenades be effective in warfare?

  • Yeah they would be effective in Polynesian warfare, and be reliable projectiles.

  • Nope they'd not be too useful in warfare with other tribes

  • They'd be heavily effective against tribes maybe a bit against the british, but not enough.


Results are only viewable after voting.
Now I want you to imagine the coolest weapon ever. Got it? Okay well, it's not the coolest weapon ever, It's actually a coconut bomb. I was just watching videos, but then I found a video about how to open a coconut without any tools. Which is here

Then I kept watching other videos about tools that could be made with coconuts, such as canteens, but then I found this great video about how to create Coconut grenades.


So I got wondering what the practicality of Coconut bombs would be in a place like Polynesian tribal, and sea warfare. I don't know the internals, but gunpowder is definitely a way, but if there is any other way to explode the coconut that the Polynesians could have before European exploration, then please tell me. So my questions are

Would they be effective in Combat? (With the huge explosion radius, and shattered shell)

Would the tribe, or empire that creates these coconut bombs, be like the Zulus of Polynesia? (If someone could find out where coconuts natively grow, so we could find if someone like the Hawaiian empire, Maori, or someone else would use Coconut grenades.

Could these grenade-like objects be used by Europeans in other wars? Or draw more interest in the hand held grenades?

And would it have any at all effect at all on colonization?


Discuss
 
First off, the rocks used to open the coconut are tools, but that's beside the point.

ultimately, the coconut is merely a substitute for iron/metal in a standard exploding grenade/canon shell, so the only real difference is the shrapnel potential and how well you can store/seal the fuse/etc. If you can figure out a way to increase the shrapnel, such as wrapping pebbles/hard stuff around it, I imagine it could be effective. I guess the idea is that if you have a supply of explosive, but not metal (such as with the Swiss Family Robinson in the video) you could create a weapon that gives you more power. Once you introduce metal, I'm guessing you go down the path of bombs as OTL.
 

Md139115

Banned
I had the US army using them in my TL. From what I’ve read, it could work, but it would never be as good as say a glass bottle.
 
First off, the rocks used to open the coconut are tools, but that's beside the point.

ultimately, the coconut is merely a substitute for iron/metal in a standard exploding grenade/canon shell, so the only real difference is the shrapnel potential and how well you can store/seal the fuse/etc. If you can figure out a way to increase the shrapnel, such as wrapping pebbles/hard stuff around it, I imagine it could be effective. I guess the idea is that if you have a supply of explosive, but not metal (such as with the Swiss Family Robinson in the video) you could create a weapon that gives you more power. Once you introduce metal, I'm guessing you go down the path of bombs as OTL.

Well, It says without tools like a hammer or large knife, the rocks are technical tools, but it's about how too do it with just local materials, being just two rocks.

Yeah I agree that it's a substitute, and that's what I find interesting about Polynesians in Antiquity, or Medieval ages using coconut grenades, and there is more conflict in the region to make the tribe that invents it, and wealds it a Polynesian empire/Power. It would still be a game changer in Polynesia, having a primitive explosive. Even if it's not enough to resist colonization, it could have a lot of effects on colonization, especially it's effectiveness in warfare against people like British, seeming as if a group of people weald them, and throw them in a group of colonists, it'll be mayhem.

I thought the shrapnel would be weak, but since Polynesia is full of pebbles, and pretty large rocks, effective shrapnel would be common. When colonists come around, the technology of metal, and stronger materials, the coconut grenade would be even more powerful with the Polynesians new access to Metal from the merchants.

I guess it would be normal coconut grenades in antiquity, with the chosen tribe who invents it forming an empire, then when merchants come with metal, the coconuts turn into basically kinda normal grenades at the time they come, with metal, and more effective technology for the coconuts against colonialists that would be pretty effective.
 
I had the US army using them in my TL. From what I’ve read, it could work, but it would never be as good as say a glass bottle.

It wouldn't be as effective as a glass bottle definitely, but there's so many laying around there, and it's really easy to make and throw together, especially if you just send like a dozen people to just crack open coconuts, and get another dozen to put gunpowder in them, and seal them with a fuse, and just give some soldiers (U.S, Polynesian, or British) some easy bombs to use. If America were to trade with other powers, maybe some powers that are industrializing, or are not industrialized could use coconut grenades.

I would argue, that Japan during the Tokugawa and Meiji period could buy Coconut grenades from the U.S with help in their wars during the Meiji Period, like the Satsuma rebellion, Boshin war, First Sino-Japanese war, Boxer rebellion (For U.S Soldiers, or Japanese ones) Especially the Russo-Japanese war, used in the battle of Mukden, or the Seige of Port Arthur. The Germans could even use the Coconut bombs during the defense of there Pacific colonies. The Japanese could use the Coconut bombs in the Seige of Qingdao until they are replaced by more effective grenades.

Qing China could even use them, seeing how their military was pretty bad, any other bomb, or weapon would be effective in their military.
 
Well, I was wondering if there were other materials besides gunpowder local to Polynesia that could be used for Coconut grenades, not reliant on gunpowder.
Nothing that wouldn't require a processing plant.
If they already have the secret of basic gunpowder and sources of sulphur, bird droppings (for nitrates), and charcoal, then it'd be a start.
 
Nothing that wouldn't require a processing plant.
If they already have the secret of basic gunpowder and sources of sulphur, bird droppings (for nitrates), and charcoal, then it'd be a start.

So there really is no way that we could get coconut bombs without outside interference?
 
So there really is no way that we could get coconut bombs without outside interference?
Well gunpowder appears to have been invented due to Chinese alchemy so you'd likely need something similar arising on the islands. Are there any island traditions that involve pastes of sulphur or nitrates or charcoal that you can mix together and create an early form of black powder?
 
Because I don't know if Gunpowder was native to Polynesia.
The gunpowder tree (misnomer, it's actually a leguminous shrub) is actually an introduced plant in much of the world propagated by migrating swallows. It's only native to -- of all places -- St. Helena Island.

On a more serious note gunpowder's not that hard to make if you know all the ingredients. You can make powder from thatch, fermented pee and charcoal.

You could probably make coconut grenades in a pinch, but cocoshrapnel I think wouldn't be dense enough to do a lot of damage. If you're in a position to mass-produce war coconuts, why not simply make ceramic grenades?
 
The gunpowder tree (misnomer, it's actually a leguminous shrub) is actually an introduced plant in much of the world propagated by migrating swallows. It's only native to -- of all places -- St. Helena Island.

On a more serious note gunpowder's not that hard to make if you know all the ingredients. You can make powder from thatch, fermented pee and charcoal.

You could probably make coconut grenades in a pinch, but cocoshrapnel I think wouldn't be dense enough to do a lot of damage. If you're in a position to mass-produce war coconuts, why not simply make ceramic grenades?


Well all of those would make it pretty easy then, as Polynesia has a lot of these materials.

Cocoshrapnel could still be effective, as Professor said it, they could be attached with small rocks, which Polynesia has a surplus of.

By mass produce, I mean just getting a few hundred workers who make the bombs on a daily basis, then hand it off to soldiers for conquering, and warfare.
 
Top