[5] 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 in its 1886 report and recommended a massive $127 million construction program of breech-loading guns, mortars, floating batteries, and submarine (underwater) minefields for some 29 locations on the US coastline.

A new Board of Fortifications, under President Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of War William Taft, was convened in 1905.

[6] 14-inch guns were emplaced in the harbor defenses of Los Angeles, the Panama Canal, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Manila Bay, Philippines, all constructed under the Taft program.

[7][8] The M1909 was a wire-wound gun 40 calibers long designed specifically for the turrets of Fort Drum on El Fraile Island in Manila Bay, Philippines.

[14][8] Along with other coast artillery weapons, the 14-inch guns in the Philippines saw action in the Japanese invasion in World War II.

Except for Fort Drum's turrets, whose guns were in action until the surrender, the open mountings were vulnerable to air and high-angle artillery attack; their only protection was camouflage nets.

Two 14-inch Guns M1909 (#4 & #3 Watervliet) in one Turret M1909 (#1 Newport News), Battery John M. Wilson, Fort Drum, El Fraile Island, Philippines.

Two 14-inch Guns M1909 (#2 & #1 Watervliet) in one Turret M1909 (#2 Newport News), Battery William L. Marshall, Fort Drum, El Fraile Island, Philippines.