Nazi Operated Enigma Machine Retrieved In Baltic Sea

ANCIENT ARCHEOLOGY ^ | 12-12-2020 | Joyce Williams

[Tallguy]

And the early 3-Rotor machines were used by Germany & German private corporations to encrypt radio traffic in the interwar years. Polish intelligence agents realized that a variation of that basic machine was serving with the German armed forces and set about working on the mathematics involved in solving the internal workings. Poland’s misfortune was being invaded only a very short time after their work was completed. They did, however, manage to get their work along with an example of the machine to the British & French.

[left that other site]

“a little wobbly in their dating”...LOL.

A HALLMARK of Archaeology. hehehe

[Boogieman]

Not a big Reagan fan though...

[OrioleFan]

The key to cracking the Enigma was to figure out what the settings were for the day. At the start of the war the machine had 3 rotors and a 4th was added later. There were also a set of plug wires that further increased the possibilities.

Once you found the settings, you entered the encrypted message into the machine and out came the decrypted message (and vice versa).

Turing’s machine (predecessor for modern computers) was set up to find the settings. The big break came when they figured out that the weather data was being transmitted in the beginning of the message, and I believe the messages contained “heil hitler”.

Early computers were often called Turing machines.

In parallel to the British efforts, at Blechley Park, to find the settings, Americans were working on a system in Dayton Ohio at NCR called the Bombe. The Bombe was built to solve the 4-rotor Naval Enigma machines. These early computers were mass produced and shipped to Mount Vernon Seminary for Girl, a requisitioned former boarding school in Washington DC, where they were essential to our Navy’s efforts in the Atlantic.

Some good books are “The Secret In Building 26” by Jim DeBrosse and Colin Burke, and “Seizing the Enigma” by David Kahn. You can also watch “The Imitation Game”.

[Vaduz]

Bet they found hundreds of Dominion machines next to it.

[Boogieman]

Most dates in archaeology should have an asterisk next to them, for sure.

[C210N]

Just think, a hundred years from now, archaeologists will dig deep into basements of government SOS buildings, and unearth the code that three hundred years prior were used in Dominion voting machines.

[null and void]

Red Dwarf Ping!

KRYTEN: Sir, with the greatest respect, that is complete and utter shash. (His right leg is bouncing up and down, nervously.)
LISTER: Kryten, I know when you're lying. Your right foot jiggles. It's involuntary.
KRYTEN: Nonsense. (It jiggles harder.) I'm not afraid to die. (Harder still.) For me, death holds no fear. (His leg is now jiggling so much his whole body is moving.) I believe in Silicon Heaven! I believe in an afterlife for androids! Haven't you got through those damn manacles yet!?
LISTER: (Yelling) Kryten!! (LISTER bangs the hammer down.) I'm not gonna let it happen, man.
KRYTEN: Cause and effect, sir. It already _has_ happened. There's nothing we can do except to try and save your life. (Motioning towards the gauntlet.) Okay, now I think I have this, it's a variant of the Enigma decoding system.
LISTER: Enigma! Enig -- Enigma!
KRYTEN: "Enig," of course! My last words! Well, anyway, if this thing works, it should age those manacles by half a million years.
LISTER: If it doesn't work?
KRYTEN: It'll wipe out the universe.

[left that other site]

Most dates in archaeology should have an asterisk next to them, for sure.

I love to date an ancient find
In digs I love to frisk
But reputation's on the line
When dating shards of bisque
If I quote a Carbon Date
And on that date insist,
I would be a foolish gal,
My Little *.

[Boogieman]

Bravo!

[Kommodor]

Good book, but the author has gotten a bit silly.

More pages != better.

Now I want some Cap’n Crunch.

[Vlad0]

While SOME German Kreigsmarine personnel were probably die-hard National Socialists, this piece of equipment was a standard-issue cryptographic device used on the U-Boats; hence, German naval personnel operated it, the majority of whom were probably just sailors performing their normal duties.

It's interesting distinction you are making here, but I'm not sure I understand it.

Would you not call the Red Army "communists" either, after all probably many of the soliders in the Red Army were just Russian (or Belarussians, etc.) who were conscripted.

In typical usage we say that "the Nazis attacked Poland in 1939", etc. In a totalitarian regime was there really any difference between being a Nazi and being a non-Nazi member of the German military? How about volunteers vs. conscripts? Would it be fair to call volunteers "Nazis"?

Looking at German insignia of WW2, almost every military award (like the Iron Cross) incorporates the swastika.

It seems to me that you are making a distinction without a difference, and that anyone fighting as part of the German armed forces in the period of WW2 can quite properly be called a Nazi.

[left that other site]

:-)

[sauropod]

.

[sima_yi]

Another good book is Battle of Wits by Stephen Budiansky. It goes into the stories of the breaking of the Enigma, and also of the Japanese diplomatic and naval codes.

[MortMan]

Well played, sir! I am literally LOL!

[Tom Bombadil]

I am currently reading “A Man Called Intrepid” describing William Stephenson’s contributions in winning WWII.

Among other things it describes the successful efforts at developing a system to break enigma coding even as the machine settings were constantly changed. The book does a really good job of giving WWII context to the whole enigma story.

The book also gives a good description of the difference between using intelligence for strategic and tactical purposes and the need to protect intelligence sources for larger goals.

[Tom Bombadil]

I will look for it.