Richard Frank, Author and Historian, Battle of Midway 75th Anniversary Recollections, C-Span.
BARRIER: Cracking the Code
“Although the Pacific War was a horrible, drawn-out conflict, a couple of codebreakers in Pearl Harbor might have prevented it from being even worse.”
- Benjamin Baker, The Diplomat.
Naval cryptanalysts in "The Dungeon", Path to Midway: The Dungeon, Station Hypo.
World War II Database.
"I've got something so hot here it's burning my desk."
- Joseph Rochefort, The Battle of Midway.
After the U.S. declared war on Japan, Commander Rochefort and the men at Station Hypo faced the daunting barrier of cracking JN-25b, the Japanese general code. Working tirelessly, they finally deciphered JN-25b after months of toiling, which showed that Japan was planning an attack on Midway, allowing the U.S. to succesfully intercept the Japanese. However, Rochefort was posed with another barrier. Station Hypo originally was supposed to report their findings to OP-20-G, the naval intelligence headquarters, in Washington, D.C., but due to his friendship with Lieutenant Commander Edwin T. Layton, Admiral Nimitz’s principal intelligence officer, Hypo reported directly to Nimitz. Upset with this, the Redman brothers, Rochefort’s direct bosses, attempted to take credit for Midway.
"We would fight with OP-20-G all the time; we couldn't get together."
- Ham Wright, HYPO Cryptanalyst, And I was There.
"And you can't emphasize enough that they're not reading complete messages. Ther're getting little bits and pieces of it, and that's where Rochefort's great genius was..."
- Richard Frank, Battle of Midway 75th Anniversary Recollections, C-Span.
"Rochefort committed the one unforgivable sin. To prove individuals of small mind and overweening ambition, there is no greater insult than to be proved wrong."
- Thomas Dyer, The Wall Street Journal.
Background
The Battle