In 1885, United States Secretary of War William C. Endicott, heading the Board of Fortifications, issued a report necessitating the coastal defense of San Francisco Bay.

To man these two batteries the army constructed between them a parade ground and a complex of frame buildings built to then-standard plans for barracks and quarters.

However, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the Second World War before the new modernization project was completed and Battery Chester's guns continued to play an important role in coastal defense until 1943.

The Allied victories in the Pacific War that year reduced the danger of an enemy attack on San Francisco to such an extent that the army ordered Battery Chester's guns be salvaged.

Battery 243 (Construction Number) at Fort Miley was completed in 1944, designed for two 6-inch rapid-fire guns protected by steel shields rather than the traditional concrete-and-earth parapets.

This type of coastal gun was considered to be of value at that late date in the war because of its function to cover the submarine minefields outside the Golden Gate, making minesweeping by the enemy difficult if not impossible.