When I was with 3rd ID (1986-1989), my Platoon Sergeant gave to me this USN MK 3. He told me that he was issued it when they (504th) were deploying to Grenada.

 

 

 

 

At first I thought it was unusual for the Army to issue USN knives, but in 1988 or 1989 all of the officers in my company were issued diving knives. Our CO had been our Bn S-4 and said that he had been able to request these because they were "Class 9". I still have mine somewhere around here.

 

On a side note, were any of you with the 504th when it went into Grenada? My Plt Sgt said that it was very rushed and they were practically throwing equipment at troops. He may have exagerated a little bit. I would like to know how much prep time there was before the attack.

I went to Grenada with the 2nd ranger battalion. The Navy Mk 3 were an Issue Item. They were purchased by our Bn S-4. The knife was a class 9 expendable. They cost the army less than $5.00 each. We also had the Pilots knives and the USN/USMC Mk2 that were in our supply room. I still have my MK2 and the pilots knife but lost the MK3 over the years. The guys that wanted one or did'nt buy their own blades could get them Issued. I carried a gerber Mk 2 most of the time.

 

Rich

Interesting thread! Were they issued with the scabbard shown or with the normal USN scabbard? I think I have one of the scabbards shown with another knife that was inexpensive. It was a private purchase knife.

I used to see those mint in the box all over the place and questioned whether or not they really were issue knives. Can't say I've ever seen one in a scabbard and knew for sure it was the original.

I went to grenada with the 1/508th 82nd abn., no knives were issued to us, bayonets were, and our bn. commander would not allow us to take our own personal knives he said if you kill somebody with a personal knife it's murder so use your bayonet, this is the same guy that made us shave mustaches off before we went and wouldn't let us wear our jungle boot's, by the way nobody in my battalion killed anybody with ANY type of weapon as far as I know.

at some point before or after that (nothing to do with grenada), jump masters were issued air force survival knives, maybe there was a choice in the differant battalions as to types of knives and who got them, most guys in the division carried whatever they wanted but other than the jump masters I didn't know any were issued.

as far as being hurried, it depended on what battalion you were in and your current status on DRF (div. ready force) 2/325 was the first from the 82nd to go, I didn't leave until the next day, and we lined up for ammo, flak jackets, clamores, laws, poncho liners, rations, camy sticks, and new jungle boots!!, by the time i got through they only had size 7 and I wear size 9.

The Mk 3 was issued at 2nd Batt with the standard black plastic scabbard that the Navy uses. The sheath pictured above I never saw with our Mk 3's. Most of the guys that got the blade took them home or traded them off. Not to many carried them that I remember. Most carried personel blades. I know we used them as trading material sometimes along with the USAF Pilots knife when we went on deployments.

 

As far as prep time for Grenada .......... We got the alert an Sat morning and were wheeles up in 18 hours for Hunter Army Air Field. We preped Sat night and Sunday at HAAF and jumped in on the airport in Grenada at 0600 monday morning in the middle of a gun fight between Delta and the Cuban defense forces.

Great way to start off a Monday Morning. HOOOAH

 

Rich

Here is some info on the USN MK3.

 

This is the MK 3 with issue scabbard. The scabbard is a poor design for combat. The frog (hanger) in particular is very light duty.

 

This is the source of the scabbard shown at the beginning of the thread. These knives were sold in large quantities in surplus and gear shops at Ft Bragg in the early to mid 1980's. It is a hollow handle survial type knife. In the pic of the over all items the butt cap with the compass was an extra cost item that was in the small green box. The standard knife was $30 and the accessory cap was about $4 or $5 extra. At that time a Gerber was probably about $50. This is a pretty good quality scabbard for such an inexpensive knife. It was a copy of the SOG knife scabbard.

 

Craig:

 

Nice job identifying the source of the non-issue sheath. I was wodering where that had come from. It looks to be pretty well made too.

 

Charlie

Ok, is the scabbard that I show at the beginning of this post the knock off or the SOG scabbard? I assume knock-off, but would like to know if there are any markings that I should be looking for on the scabbard itself. I'm okay with it either way as this is how I got it from my Plt Sgt.

I didn't notice any markings when I was taking the pics. The knife was made in Japan so I assume the sheath was too. It is a pretty good quality sheath and a design that covered most of the desirable features of that time period. It is a copy of the SOG scabbard but I did not check to see how close the design is. The 3 grommets allow for it to be tied to the suspenders or worn in several different ways. This sheath was a big improvement over the issue USN sheath and probably was fairly easy to find at Ft Bragg at that time as well. I'm sure your PLT SGT was improving the knife / sheath combo when he replaced the issue sheath.

 

It is interesting to see that sheath / knife combo and know it was used that way. That USN knife has a weak point and I suspect there was lots of broken blades around. That is probably why they were available because the Navy dumped them. That knife was available all over the Fayettesville area at that time too.

I find this thread to be quite interesting as I have one of these knives that I was told came from a vet of the 82nd during the time period of Grenada, and my reaction at the time was of course extreme skepticism. It doesn't show any significant use, so it may have been one of those simply brought home without being actually carried and used.

This is the MK 3 with issue scabbard. The scabbard is a poor design for combat. The frog (hanger) in particular is very light duty.

 

Looks like a variation of the M10 bayonet scabbard pattern. I assume the M10 was intended to be a cost reduced replacement to the the M8A1 but in reality was a useless item that seldom got used. Same for this knife scabbard

 

I remember first noticing those knives in the mid 1990's. They were at every surplus, gun, and pawn shop I went into and I always saw them as a "fantasy" item.....apparently I was wrong. I never bought one.