[Dallsim]

So many thorough replies so it will take a while to respond to all. I will start by replying and asking more questions to CaptBones and l02turner because I just happened to see “Das Boot” on Blu-ray with the girlfriend this weekend. What a phenomenal film!

Originally Posted by CaptBones

The biggest difference was in the German “Wolfpack” method of operation. There, the gathering and concentration of units to attack a convoy was coordinated and controlled by the HQ Command ashore and that did depend on a steady stream of 2-way communication between the individual U-Boats and BdU. Unless detected by the enemy, the boats would travel to the designated intercept position on the surface and would get updated reports on the convoy and orders from HQ by Enigma-encrypted radio messages (good scenes of that in “Das Boot”). That turned out to be an Achilles heal though; radio direction finding equipment was finally installed aboard ships and aircraft as well as ashore and the ability of the Allies to detect and localize U-Boat transmissions was one of the factors in defeating the wolfpacks.

Originally Posted by CaptBones

A: That is a story in itself. Google “Enigma” and see what comes up; by all means see the movie “The Imitation Game”.

Originally Posted by l02turner

Ya'll probably know this but the Germans had a weakness when it came to communications - the allies broke the code pretty early and I believe it was Sub overall commander Doneitz who required all subs to report their position on a daily basis

At the very beginning of the film, it was stated that, despite Hitler clearly knowing that the German naval fleet had no chance in surviving against the Allies, he kept sending the submarines into their deaths. The Captain questioned numerous times how the Allies were miraculously able to “anticipate” the whereabouts and attacks of the German submarines. The story takes place in 1941 and I assume Enigma was cracked without the Germans being aware?

If I remember “The Imitation Game” correctly, the Allies purposely sacrificed some of their own convoys in order to not raise too high a suspicion that Enigma had been decrypted. In Das Boot, when the submarine manages to take out two ships while firing at four, they lose track of the Destroyer’s position, leading to the submarine being taken by a surprise attack from another direction. Would you believe this to be a calculated sacrifice, or some form of misdirection by the Allies in order to lure the submarine into a vulnerable position?

Originally Posted by Oberon

In the future, there's a lot of talk about laser based communications, a bit like fiber optics but through the water rather than a fibre tube.

After checking the link provided by Oberon, I became intrigued to read more about Laser Communication and learnt of a new term called “Quantum Key Distribution” (QKD), a new method for secure communication. This technology behaves based on quantum mechanics and takes advantage of light, or laser light to be more specific. Apparently, QKD produces a shared secret key, which is randomly made, to two parties who will use it to encrypt and decrypt the messages they send and receive. If somebody were to eavesdrop or try to read the key, the attributes of the key will be altered and you would instantly know that the key has been tampered with. I.e., once read, it’s known. The key would be discarded and a new would be sent and only used if it remains untouched.

Imagine if the Germans had a similar type of device back then? I assume submarines nowadays are looking to take advantage of laser communication so that they can stay deep under water and remain undetected while still being able to communicate with the world above sea level?

The topic of Enigma QKD actually got my thinking about which similar security measures are in place today in order to make sure our daily conversations stay private. After some digging, I discovered that there are methods to encrypt communication such as emails with something known as SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security). There was this one site which features a few guides giving a great introduction to how you can send emails securely:
https://www.1and1.co.uk/digitalguide...tion-with-ssl/

Not sure how comparable it is to Enigma, but digital guide explains that, when we send emails without encrypting them, they are sent as plain text and can be easily intercepted and read while underway to the proper recipient. By sending emails using TLS or SSL, the email will be encrypted and cannot be deciphered by “third parties” due to the fact that they do not have access to the key that is needed to decrypt the message.

It also looks as though many email clients seem to offer this encryption feature in the settings, which you can turn on and off yourself. When I think of it, I am not sure if I have enabled mine yet but will have an immediate look right after posting . Another bonus listed for the use of SSL and TLS seem to be with securing data transmission on websites if important and private information is shared.

I hope the future makes use of Quantum Key Distribution. The great advantage I find with it is the ability to identify any eavesdropping or tampering of the key. I wonder if submarines will be the first to incorporate this technology, while the public still has to wait quite a while before it becomes the norm

Anyhow, will get back to other people’s post later. Too much to ask!