Enigma

[Schultz]

I have a enygma about the coding machine enygma?
I saw in Das boot that the officer used to decipher a paper with the enygma on his lap.
Can you tell me please the hall process of decoding right from the begining

[DarkFish]

well here's a step by step guide to enigma deciphering:

1: each day the radio operator would set the enigma to the right settings for that day. Each day would need a different combination of rotors and plugs, these settings were described in a book the operator had for a certain amount of time ahead.

2: the operator would write down the received message, this message would be something like AJELA JGEHI AQJEK XYKLS etc.

3: he'd type this message in on the enigma, and write down which letters lit up. the result of the above text would then be for example: ISXTH ISXAX TESTX FRAQX

4: he'd transcribe it into 'normal' german, like replace all X with ' ', all FRAQ with '?' etc.
the final message in this case would be: Is this a test?

[Nickolas]

you can do it yourself if you wish

check this post:

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...ghlight=enigma

edit:
the enigma downlaod on that post is dead.
you can get the "enigma sim" from here: http://users.telenet.be/d.rijmenants/en/enigmasim.htm

[Schultz]

The link in that topic doesn't work
L.E: The other link works. Thx

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by infernos

I have a enygma about the coding machine enygma?
I saw in Das boot that the officer used to decipher a paper with the enygma on his lap.
Can you tell me please the hall process of decoding right from the begining

A simple google search on online enigma simulators and such will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the enigma. There are some excellent websites with animation on the enigma

[Kapteeni Rantala]

I think that a possibility for captain to decode messages by himself would be great - U-boat skippers did that from time to time with "for eyes only" messages.

[bart]

I'm hoping there will be something of the Enigma Machine in SHV, as it was an important part of the battle of the Atlantic.

Here's a link for Bletchley Park site. If you ever get the chance to visit I would definetly recommend it. I've been several times and it's brilliant.

http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/

[Platapus]

If you are ever unfortunate enough to be in Washington DC, the Spy Museum has a very nice display of the enigma as well as an interactive Enigma simulator.

[Sailor Steve]

Funny you should say that. A couple of summers ago I had a temp job emptying trash for a recruiting convention at our local convention center. One of the recruiters was the CIA, and as part of their display I was very pleasantly surprised to see a real live German Enigma machine! When I asked about it and talked about u-boats the gentleman there told me that that particular one was an army model.

Still, it was pretty cool to see.