Engineering:Type 30 bayonet

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Short description: Sword bayonet
Type 30 bayonet
Japanese Type 30 Bayonet
TypeBayonet
Place of originEmpire of Japan
Service history
WarsRusso-Japanese War
World War I
Finnish Civil War
Second Sino-Japanese War
World War II
Chinese Civil War
Indonesian National Revolution
First Indochina War
Korean War
Vietnam War
Production history
Designed1897
Unit cost9.15 yen ($2.5 USD) in August 1939[1][2]
Produced1897–1945
No. built~8,400,000
Specifications
Mass700 g (25 oz)
Length514 mm (20.2 in)
Blade length400 mm (16 in)

The Type 30 bayonet (三十年式銃剣, sanjūnen-shiki jūken) is a bayonet that was designed for the Imperial Japanese Army to be used with the Arisaka Type 30 Rifle, which was later used on the Type 38 and Type 99 rifles, the Type 96 and Type 99 light machine guns, and the Type 100 submachine gun.

Design

The Type 30 bayonet is a single-edged sword bayonet with a 400 mm (16 in) blade and an overall length of 514 mm (20.2 in) with a weight of approximately 700 g (25 oz). The Type 30 bayonet is also known as the "Pattern 1897 bayonet".

Early Type 30 bayonets usually sported a J-shaped hooked quillon guard designed to catch and trap the enemy's blade.[3] By 1942, the quillon was eliminated to save materials and decrease production time, leaving only a straight guard.[3]

Type 30 scabbards went from metal (pre–1942), to vulcanized fiber (1942–1943), and finally to wood or bamboo (1944–1945).[3] Scabbards were usually painted black and called a burdock sword (gobo ken) as it looked like burdock, a vegetable.

Japanese soldier in Sakhalin equipped with fixed Type 30
American sailors and coastguardsmen with captured Type 30 bayonets affixed on their rifles on Tarawa, November 1943


The weapon was manufactured from 1897 to 1945 at a number of locations, including the Kokura Arsenal, Koishikawa Arsenal (Tokyo), and Nagoya Arsenal, as well as under contract by private manufacturers including Matsushita, and Toyoda Automatic Loom.

Adoption

Some 8.4 million were produced, and it remained in front-line use from the Russo-Japanese War to the end of World War II.

All Japanese infantrymen were issued with the Type 30, whether they were armed with a rifle or pistol, or even if they were unarmed. Because of its reliability, it was a valuable tool and weapon for Japanese infantrymen.[4]

Users

  •  Austria-Hungary
  •  Republic of China
  •  Estonia
  •  Finland
  •  Indonesia
  •  Empire of Japan
    • Imperial Japanese Armed Forces
  •  Korea
  •  North Vietnam
  •  Russian Empire
  •  United Kingdom

See also

References


Template:Japanese WWII infantry weapons