Joseph Rochefort

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Joseph Rochefort

Joseph John Rochefort (born May 12, 1900 in Dayton , Ohio , † July 20, 1976 in Torrance , California ) was a cryptanalyst in the US Navy during World War II .

Rochefort joined the US Navy in 1918 and became a marine engineer on the tanker USS  Cuyama after graduating from the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1919 . In the Navy, his talent for crossword puzzles and bridge was noticed , and he attended cryptology courses with Laurance Safford and Agnes Meyer Driscoll of the US Navy Cryptanalytic Service. From 1926 to 1929 he was deputy head of the Marine Cryptanalytic Service OP-20-G in Washington, DC , and from 1929 to 1932 received training in Japanese . From 1936 to 1938 he was stationed in San Diego as a reconnaissance officer for the 11th Marine District. In between he was repeatedly in service on ships of the US Navy.

In early 1941 he was sent from Safford to Hawaii to work in the Hypo branch on breaking the Japanese naval code, and after the attack on Pearl Harbor he could choose the best codebreakers and linguists in the US Navy, like Thomas Dyer and Joseph Finnigan, who later played a major role in the deciphering work before and during the Battle of Midway . After the attack on Pearl Harbor , cryptanalysts under his leadership were successful in partially deciphering the Japanese naval code JN-25. In May 1942 they deciphered and analyzed up to 140 Japanese messages a day. In particular, they were able to identify the actual target of a Japanese aircraft carrier formation in the Pacific and thus contribute to the American success in the Battle of Midway in 1942. The superior OP-20-G in Washington, in which Safford had meanwhile been frozen, suspected a different target. The Japanese response to a fake American plain text message that there was a lack of water on Midway because the fresh water condenser was defective brought clarity about the destination and timing.

From 1942 to 1946 he headed the Pacific Strategic Intelligence Group in Washington. He was last in the rank of captain .

In 1984 he was posthumously awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal and in 1986 the National Defense Service Medal . He was inducted into the Hall of Honor in 2000 .

Web links

References

  1. ↑ According to SSDI . The NSA website states 1898.
personal data
SURNAME Rochefort, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rochefort, Joseph John (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American cryptologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 12, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Dayton (Ohio)
DATE OF DEATH July 20, 1976
Place of death Torrance , California