8-inch gun M1888

An "emergency" converted Rodman carriage was also used during the Spanish–American War in 1898 to quickly arm 21 emplacements with the modern 8-inch M1888 gun.

Air and high-angle artillery attack would eventually severely impact US fortifications in the Philippines in World War II.

The 8-inch guns were deployed in the harbor defenses of Portland, Maine, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, New Bedford, Massachusetts, Long Island Sound, New York, Eastern New York, Southern New York, Delaware River, Baltimore, Maryland, Potomac River, Chesapeake Bay, Cape Fear River, North Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, Key West, Florida, Tampa Bay, Florida, Pensacola, Florida, Mobile, Alabama, Mississippi River, Galveston, Texas, San Francisco, California, Columbia River, and Puget Sound.

[6] After the American entry into World War I, the United States needed a medium-range heavy artillery piece that could be transported easily.

All (or perhaps 37, references vary) of the 47 ordered were completed by the end of 1919 and the contract was cancelled at that point.

Others were stationed for the coastal defense of Manila, eventually one each on Corregidor and Bataan (dismounted from the railway carriage), with batteries at Newfoundland, Bermuda, Puget Sound, Chesapeake Bay, Delaware River, and Fort Hancock, New Jersey (near New York City).

The account states that the one gun that information is available on fired only five proof rounds and sat idle for want of a crew until it was destroyed by air and/or artillery attack.

8-inch gun M1888 on carriage M1918, camouflaged with ammunition wagon. Original caption indicates it may be one of three weapons delivered to France in World War I.
8-inch gun M1888 on disappearing carriage M1896. The weapon in the upper left is a 12-inch coast defense mortar M1890.
8-inch gun M1888 on barbette carriage M1892; these preceded the disappearing carriage in US service.
8-inch gun M1888 on disappearing carriage M1894, Fort Constitution, New Hampshire.
Spanish–American War Memorial, Plant Park, University of Tampa, Tampa, Florida. 8-inch M1888MIA1 No. 32 Watervliet, railroad gun originally from Battery Bowyer, Fort Morgan, Alabama.