In 1885,
William C. Endicott,
President Grover Cleveland's
secretary of war, was tasked with creating the
Board of Fortifications to review seacoast defenses. The findings of the board illustrated a grim picture of existing defenses, and in its 1886 report recommended a massive $127 million construction program of breech-loading cannons,
mortars, floating batteries, and
submarine mines for some 29 locations on the US coastline. Most of the board's recommendations were implemented. Coast artillery fortifications built between 1885 and 1905 are often referred to as "Endicott Period" fortifications.
Watervliet Arsenal designed the gun and built the barrels. For several years, difficulties were encountered in building a disappearing carriage for the 12-inch gun. One alternative was the M1891 gun lift carriage, with the gun mounted on a large steam-powered elevator. Only one battery of this type was built, Battery Potter at
Fort Hancock, New Jersey. When this proved to be too complex, guns were mounted on low-angle M1892 or M1897 barbette carriages. The M1897 carriage was actually an "altered gun lift" carriage, functionally equivalent to the barbette carriage. Eventually, the guns were mounted on M1896, M1897, or M1901 disappearing carriages designed by
Bethlehem Steel; when the gun was fired, it dropped behind a concrete or earthen wall for protection from
counter-battery fire. Bethlehem later built barrels as well. Detailed descriptions of the M1888 weapon, disappearing carriage, and gun lift carriage are in the US Army's Artillery circular 1893, pp. 195–207. Detailed parts lists for the M1888 weapon and supporting equipment are in the Ordnance supply manual by George L. Lohrer, United States Army, Ordnance Dept, 1904, pp. 115–211. After the
Spanish–American War, the government wanted to protect American seaports in the event of war, and also protect newly gained territory, such as the
Philippines and
Cuba, from enemy attack. A new Board of Fortifications, under President
Theodore Roosevelt's secretary of war,
William Taft, was convened in 1905. Taft recommended technical changes, such as more searchlights, electrification, and, in some cases, less guns in particular fortifications. The seacoast forts were funded under the Spooner Act of 1902 and construction began within a few years and lasted into the 1920s. The defenses of the Philippines on islands in
Manila Bay were built under this program.
Railway mounting After the
American entry into World War I, the army recognized the need for large-caliber
railway guns for use on the Western Front. Among the weapons available were 45 12-inch guns, to be removed from fixed defenses or taken from spares. Twelve M1895 weapons were mounted on M1918 railway carriages (based on the French Batignolles mount) by mid-1919; it is unclear if any more were eventually mounted. A detailed description of the railway mounting is given in
Railway Artillery, Vol. I by Lt. Col. H. W. Miller. The range of the railway weapon was at 38° elevation. Like almost all US-made railway guns of World War I (the notable exception being the US Navy's
14"/50 caliber railway guns), these never left the US. Although the twelve guns survived until early in World War II, they were not deployed. In 1941 they were declared "limited standard", and all but one were scrapped during the war. which allowed an elevation of 35 degrees, compared to 15 degrees for the disappearing carriages. This increased the range from to . Eleven of these batteries were in the continental United States, with two in Panama, one in Hawaii, and two one-gun batteries at
Fort Mills on
Corregidor in the
Philippines. The guns were originally in open mounts with protected magazines, but most were
casemated against air attack, beginning in 1940 as World War II approached the United States. However, the batteries in the Philippines were not casemated, as the 1923
Washington Naval Treaty prohibited further fortification of US and Japanese Pacific-area possessions, and in 1940–41 there was a lack of resources to do so. In some cases, an
M1916 75 mm gun was mounted atop a 12-inch gun for
subcaliber training.
World War II Along with other coast artillery weapons, the 12-inch guns in the Philippines saw action in the
Japanese invasion in World War II. Since they were positioned against a naval attack, they were poorly sited to engage the Japanese (although the long-range batteries had 360° fire due to lack of casemates, the disappearing batteries had about 170° fire). Other limiting factors were that they had mostly armor-piercing ammunition, and the open mountings were vulnerable to air and high-angle artillery attack. Three additional long-range casemated batteries were constructed during the war, at
Fort Miles,
Delaware,
San Juan, Puerto Rico, and on
Sullivan's Island near
Fort Moultrie in the
Harbor Defenses of
Charleston, South Carolina. With the additional construction of
16-inch gun batteries at most harbor defenses, all guns on disappearing carriages were scrapped in 1943–44. The long-range batteries' guns were scrapped soon after the war ended. ==M1895 12-inch coastal artillery batteries==