Along with other coast artillery weapons, the 14-inch guns in the Philippines saw action in the Japanese invasion in World War II. Since they were positioned against a naval attack, they were poorly sited to engage the Japanese. 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. Destruction procedures were executed on all the guns prior to the surrender of US forces on 6 May 1942.