The new Godley Head battery was the largest defence work undertaken in the South Island since the building of Fort Jervois, some 54 years earlier. The design was a direct copy of those used at the Motutapu and Palmer Head batteries. The new Godley Head battery’s primary purpose was counter bombardment with a secondary one of supporting the examination battery at Battery Point. Counter bombardment is the use of long range gunnery to counter enemy vessels attempting to bombard a coast.