From 1894 to 1901, the Army purchased and installed several coastal artillery batteries of 15 inch (381 mm) dynamite guns as part of the coast defense modernization program initiated by the Endicott Board. These could throw an explosive projectile from depending on the weight of the projectile, from . Compressed air at was supplied by a steam-driven compressor. In addition to the guns and their ammunition, the steam boiler, compressor, and other equipment necessary to operate the guns weighed over 200 tons. Among other locations, three guns were installed as Battery Dynamite at Fort Winfield Scott, near the Presidio of San Francisco. In 1904 the batteries were decommissioned, and the guns dismounted and scrapped. A bolt circle for a 15-inch dynamite gun remains near the southwest tip of Fisher's Island, New York on the former site of Fort H. G. Wright.