Tallinn having been historically an important trading center between the East and the West became one of the main naval bases of the Imperial Russian Baltic fleet.

A systematic coastal defence network and naval gun installations were ordered and the construction works began at the end of the 1890s.

Most of the coastal fortifications and fortresses were blown up by the retreating Russians units in October 1917 after the Germans had landed on the islands.

During the Estonian War of Independence and after the Treaty of Tartu the Estonia Navy began to rebuild and develop the coastal defence network.

During World War II and later the Soviet occupation of Estonia, little has remained of the former coastal defence lines and fortifications.