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The Round Tablette Founding Editor: James W The Round Tablette Founding Editor: James W. Gerber, MD (1951–2009) 9 February 2012 location, fuel status, etc. in every message. 25:07 Volume 20 Number 7 Given the volume of the messages, the RN Published by WW II History Round Table presumed they contained information Edited by Dr. Joe Fitzharris helpful to the Allied cause. The British www.mn-ww2roundtable.org project, based at Bletchley Park, utilized Thursday, 9 February 2012 highly skilled engineers, physicists, mathematicians, and statisticians, and Welcome to the February meeting of developed calculating machines, called the Harold C. Deutsch World War II “bombes,” for this work. These were highly History Round Table. Tonight, our topic specialized devices for code-breaking, and is the importance of code-breaking for the like most early “computers,” were tailored development of computers, particularly the to specific tasks. Success meant knowing computer industry in Minnesota. Pioneer where U-boats were – convoys could be re- members of the electronic computer industry routed around wolfpacks and anti- join our speaker, Colin Burke, to discuss submarine destroyers and destroyer escorts their roles in this industry. could be vectored to attack the wolfpack to the great happiness of Allied mariners. Before World War II began, the Army and Navy were both trying to break Japanese The British had produced several bombes, diplomatic, military, and naval codes. In each more sophisticated, but at ever Europe, the Poles had obtained copy of a increasing cost in resources. Americans, German ENIGMA machine and were trying peripherally involved in this effort prior to to solve its mysteries. They passed both US entry into the 1939-1945 European machine and a copy of their work to British War, now became junior partners in Intelligence shortly before Poland fell to the developing new bombes. We were also Nazis. In both efforts, frequency analysis - considered neophytes at code-breaking. often of enormous amounts of data - was a Among the leading Americans were primary tool. Mechanical tools were used to Vannevar Bush of Yale University - a assist in analyzing the data. Tonight’s subject father of “big science,” and Rear Admiral comes out of the Navy’s ENIGMA-breaking Stanford Hooper, an expert in radio efforts. communications and a father of Radio Corporation of America (RCA). These two Even before World War II, libraries were men were the “kingpins” of the American suffering from too much information. effort to build bombes and break codes. Government collected too much data to process. A large number of people, Several different agencies were established universities, and businesses were attempting to build ever bigger, faster, more capable to find solutions to these inter-related calculating machines, and to repeatedly try problems. At the same time, other people cracking the codes. In 1942, when the were trying to develop machines, building Kriegsmarine added a fourth operating off Hollerith’s punch cards and sorting rotor to the ENIGMA machine, all previous machine, to store, retrieve, and manipulate effort became so much waste paper. The these growing streams of data. With the war, Navy established a cryptanalytic machine the need for machines, for manipulation of group (OP-20-G) in the Naval Computing large data files, and the ability to repeat Machine Laboratory to create a new analyses frequently and rapidly - in a time- “bombe” to break this new code series. sensitive way, became critical. The Navy Lead by Joseph Desch, they were located in needed an analog flight situation simulator to Building 26 on the Dayton, Ohio campus of speed up training pilots, which include the National Cash Register Company. The computational machine development. “Desch Bombe” proved to be the physical platform needed for the task. The Royal Navy was particularly interested because the German U-boat fleet used In 1943,the Navy began to put together the ENIGMA encoded messages to communicate aviation assets (German submarines ran with Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz, providing surfaced when possible to save batteries, WWII History Round Table on DVD!!!Programs $10 + tax & shipping Order online at: www.barros.us/online-store.cfmor contact Rob at (763) 639-3399 The Round Tablette 9 February 2012 — 2 and were easily spotted from the air without Announcements: knowing it) based on “jeep” or escort carriers Twin Cities Civil War Round Table - (CVEs) built on Liberty ship hulls, with Feb. 21, 2012 Lincoln’s law Practice destroyer escorts as a submarine hunter-killer www.tccwrt.com - 612-724-3849 task force. One such Task Group, 22.3, built St Croix Valley Civil War Round Table - Feb. 27, 2012 Ramsey’s Words of War - Steve around the USS Guadalcanal, CVE-60, and Anderson - 715-386-1268 commanded by Captain Daniel V. Gallery, Rochester WWII History Round Table – Feb. USN, captured the U-505 intact, and with it, 13, 2012 Escaping Ambush in Korea, 507-280- its code books. 9970; www.ww2roundtable-rochester.org Minnesota Military Museum, Camp Ripley, Another Navy group, the Communications 15000 Hwy 115, Little Falls, MN 56345, 320- Supplementary Activity–Washington, was 616-6050, http://www.mnmilitarymuseum.org/ devoted to the code-breaking and located Air Show - Eden Prairie - July, 14-15, 2012; German submarines by intercepting their http://www.airexpo-mn.org/ - 952-746-6100 high speed transmissions and locating their Honor Flight - Jerry Kyser - origin points. CSAW needed devices suited crazyjerry45@hotmail - 651-338-2717 to their tasks, similar to bombes, but different CAF - Commemorative Air Force - in critical aspects. www.cafmn.org or Bill at 952-201-8400 Minnesota Air Guard Museum - When the war ended, the Navy wanted to www.mnangmuseum.org 612-713-2523 keep these people available and working. Friends of Ft. Snelling, www.fortsnelling.com Many of the men did not want to stay in TUSKEGEE AIRMAN Mjr. Joseph Gomer – service, but liked the work. The compromise Galaxie Library in Apple Valley, MN - 11 AM Sat. 25 Feb. www.dakotacounty.us/library was the creation Eckert-Mauchly Computer Co., and Engineering Research Associates of Round Table Schedule 2011-2012 St. Paul in 1946. Among the founders of 2012 ERA, were Commander Howard Engstrom Mar 8 OPERATION PLUM 27th BG and Lieutenant Commander William C. Mar 22 Japan’s Mistake: Starting the War Norris of CSAW, Captain Ralph Meader of Apr 12 Jedburgs-Jumping Behind Enemy Lines NCML, and John Parker, head of the May10 Battle of Leyte Gulf Northwestern Aeronautical Corporation, which built gliders. Under the NAC name, If you are a veteran or know a veteran of one ERA gained the necessary experience and of these campaigns –, contact Don Patton [email protected] “credibility” as a contractor to acquire Naval contracts that were the mainstay of their This is our 25th Year! work. ERA people went on to found a large number of computer development and software firms, including the unknown and some very familiar to Minnesotans: Control Data Corporation, UNIVAC, UNISYS, Sperry, and Cray. Further Reading: Jim DeBrosse and Colin Burke, The Secret in Building 26: the Untold story of America’s Ultra Robert Price, r, and the ERA 1103 computer, War Against the U-Boat Enigma Codes (New http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/acc York, NY: Random House, 2004). ession/102665140 Colin Burke, Information and Secrecy: Vannevar Bush, Ultra, and the Other Memex (Metuchen, NJ, The Scarecrow Press, 1994, out of print). Arthur L. Norberg, Computers and Commerce: A Study of Technology and Management at Eckert- Mauchly Computer Company, Engineering Research Associates, and Remington Rand, 1946- 1957 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005). Sperry Corp. Engineering Research Associates: ERA employees and magnetic drums produced The Wellspring of Minnesota’s Computer by ERA, http://www.computerhistory.org/ Industry (St. Paul, MN: Sperry Corp., 1986). revolution/memory-storage/8/252/950 If you liked tonight’s program, view our prior programs Breaking Japanese Codes in Apr. 2007 or ENIGMA and Signals Intelligence in Oct. 2007. You may order these tonight for delivery next month by seeing Rob at the desk, or online at: www.barros.us/online-store.cfm or contact Rob at (763) 639-3399 .
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