OP-20-G

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OP-20-G was the name of a special working group of the US Navy so the Navy of the United States of America , whose main task during the time of World War II in the cryptanalysis and signal intelligence was. OP-20-G is the abbreviation for "Office of Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV), 20th Division of the Office of Naval Communications, G Section / Communications Security" . The headquarters were in the Navy Department building in the American capital Washington .

The main tasks of this working group the observation were deciphering and evaluating the enemy Marine - radio communications , particularly the anti-war Japan , Italy and Germany . For example, the OP-20-G was able to achieve success against the secret German submarine radio traffic encrypted with the help of the Enigma-M4 key machine , whereby special electromechanically operated cryptanalytic machines such as “ Duenna ” were developed and used. The secrecy within this group was stricter than when the atom bomb was built .

Due to the experience that the Americans gained with the fragmentation of their cryptanalytic services in World War II, especially because of the competition between the Navy and the Army , the OP-20-G was absorbed into the newly established National Security Agency (NSA) after the war .

literature

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Individual evidence

  1. Friedrich L. Bauer: Deciphered secrets. Methods and maxims of cryptology. 3rd, revised and expanded edition. Springer, Berlin a. a. 2000, p. 433.