By 1885 work started in earnest on the construction of what eventually became seventeen forts, further encouraged by yet another Russian scare. Artillery In 1885 the New Zealand Government bought ten Armstrong BL 8-inch and thirteen Armstrong BL 6-inch guns on disappearing carriages. The disappearing gun was the very latest in military technology in the 1880s. It was "disappearing" because as it fired, the recoil pushed the gun back underground where it could be reloaded under cover. The total costs of this artillery plus the costs of installation including land, emplacements, magazines and barracks was about £160,000. Following the "second Russian scare" a number of additional RML 7-inch and 64-pr guns were also installed The forts World War II coastal fortifications The second main wave of building coastal fortifications occurred during World War II. This was mainly a response to a perceived threat of invasion by the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor. From 1942 until 1944, when the threat receded, 42 coastal artillery fortifications or land batteries were either developed using historical fortifications or were built from scratch. The fortifications were built from British designs adapted to New Zealand conditions. Radar was installed which allowed long range shooting at night and replaced the traditional fortress system of range finding. Ordnance The fortifications were equipped with both old and new ordnance, mostly British. Some World War I ordnance was requisitioned from museums and recommissioned. The fortifications The fortifications were administered by the Royal New Zealand Artillery, which grouped them into four areas. Each area was under the command of a heavy artillery regiment. Within each regiment the fortifications were grouped into batteries. Upper North Island Under the command of the 9th Heavy/Coast Regiment. Lower North Island Under the command of the 10th Heavy/Coast Regiment. Upper South Island Under the command of the 11th Heavy/Coast Regiment. Lower South Island Under the command of the 13th Coast Regiment. Post war The advent of air warfare and missiles made these forts redundant and most were decommissioned by the 1950s. Godley Head continued because of compulsory military training and last fired a gun in 1959. The Department of Conservation has the remains of around 30 installations on land it manages. Postscript None of the forts fired a gun in anger, though in October 1939 a Battery Point gun at Lyttelton accidentally sank the fishing boat "Dolphin" and killed its skipper. In 1972 the