2500 valves (British Colossus)!

[mettelus]

I happened to catch a documentary on WWII encryption techniques, and heard "2500 valves" so had to go watch that part onward. The Lorenz cipher (Enigma successor) could create massive messages with better encryption, and the British counter was the Colossus Mark 2 which used a 2500 valve computer to systematically decrypt them in a few hours. Just made me think that is a lot of money for today, since valves are less and less common and... well, 2500 of them! I actually had a coworker who inherited a stash of valves from her father and I told her to get those appraised, since they alone could be worth a small fortune.

From there it shifted into something even more simple and interesting. The Japanese were so good with breaking codes that the US Marines chose a simple, yet effective solution. The Navajo language is incredibly difficult to learn if not learned as a child, so they used "Navajo Code Talkers" to transmit messages with rudimentary replacement of words. Instantaneous communications and effective, so effective that the Japanese were intent to kidnap one but never did (they even had their own bodyguard details). I never even knew about the Code Talkers before, but that creativity is impressive.

[craigb]

That's a lot of valves!  Did it have any tubes too? ?

 

 

?

[57Gregy]

15 hours ago, mettelus said:

they used "Navajo Code Talkers" to transmit messages with rudimentary replacement of words.

Imagine the heat!

There is a movie called Wind Talkers with Adam Beach and Nicolas Cage on this episode in American history. I liked it.