This timeline has been long neglected but I’ve recently begun to add to it. I’ve indicated my variety of sources. Military information is primarily from the wikipedia timeline. Over the years I’ve found other excellent timelines online regarding the history of cryptography or WW2. These included the NSA Cryptologic History Timeline and the WW2 Database.
Date | Military/U-boats | Cryptologic | Dayton | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1860 | first US patent for cryptographic device granted | ||||
18?? | John Patterson founds the National Cash Register Company | ||||
1914 | At the start of World War I, Germany had 48 submarines of 13 classes in service or under construction; in their initial campaign in the North Atlantic, German U-boats had sunk nine warships while losing five of their own number | ||||
24 January 1918 | Arthur Scherbius received a patent for a cipher machine now known as the ENIGMA | ||||
1919 | Part V of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles had imposed severe restrictions on the size and capacities on the armed forces of the Reich. In regards to the Navy, Germany was allowed no submarines, no naval aviation, and no battleships | Hugo Koch, a Dutchman, comes up with the idea for the Enigma cipher machine; Damm receives Swedish patent for cryptoraphic device using “rotor” (Deavors, p. 5_) | |||
1921 | William Friedman goes to work for the Army Signal Corps | ||||
1923 | Arthur Scherbius produces an Enigma machine for the commercial market | ||||
January, 1924 | Lt. Laurence Safford takes the head of the Reseach Desk at the US Navy Codes and Signal Section (later became Op-20-G) | ||||
1925 | First US Navy radio intercept station set up on Guam followed by two in the Philippines and one in Shanghai | ||||
9 February 1926 | German Navy introduced the ENIGMA machine as “Radio Key C” for communications security | ||||
July, 1928 | The “On the Roof Gang” begins training on the roof of the old Navy Department. | ||||
Date | MilItary | Cryptologic | Dayton | ||
April, 1930 | William Friedman authorized to hire three junior cryptanalysts to begin a bureau known as the Signal Intelligence Service | ||||
1931 | Japanese cryptographers begin use of an “unbreakable” cipher called “Red” produced by a machine using rotors with a complex wiring arrangement | ||||
1932 | In Poland, Marian Rejewski recovers wiring of Geman military Enigma rotors | ||||
1 October 1933 | Unterseebootsabwehrschule (U-boat war school) founded. | ||||
11 March 1935 | Navy cryptologic organization redesignated as Op-20-G | ||||
29 June 1935 | The Anglo-German Naval Agreement (A.G.N.A) of June 18, 1935 was a bilateral agreement between the United Kingdom and German Reich regulating the size of the Kriegsmarine in relation to the Royal Navy; the launch of U-1 | ||||
27 September 1935 | Unterseebootsflotille Weddigen commissioned by its first chief, Fregattenkapitän Karl Dönitz | ||||
1936 | Red system broken by US Navy | ||||
1 January 1936 | The appointment of Kapitän zur See Karl Dönitz to the post of Führer der Unterseeboote | ||||
1937 | Introduction of the Purple Japanese cipher machine | ||||
April 1938 | Harry Williams, at the request of Col. Edward A. Deeds, President of the National Cash Register Company, hired Joseph R. Desch to begin NCR’s Electrical Research Laboratory | ||||
15 March 1939 | Germany invades Czechoslovakia | ||||
1 June 1939 | The Japanese naval code JN-25 introduced | ||||
1 September 1939 | Germany invades Poland | ||||
3 September 1939 | France and Britain declare war | ||||
Date | MilItary | Cryptologic | Dayton | ||
1940 | By the summer of 1940, through the collaboration of the staff of William Friedman of the SIS and Lt Safford Japanese diplomatic traffic was easily read | ||||
14 March 1940 | First bombe operational at Bletchley Park | ||||
Summer 1940 | Battle of Britain | ||||
September 1940 | Japanese Purple cipher broken by US Army; first JN-25 decrypts by Op-20-G | ||||
October 2 1940 | Joseph Desch writes in December to Dr. George Harrison of the NDRC that on October 2nd his laboratory staff–Mr. Robert Mumma and Mr. Louis DeRosa–are beginning work on the development of high speed electronic counters. | ||||
23 January 1941 | Intelligence chiefs of US Army and Navy established list of eligible readers of “Magic” Intercept | ||||
March 1941 | The National Defense Research Committe appoints Joseph Desch an “Official Investigator” and requires him to sign the first of a series of pledges of secrecy | ||||
9 May 1941 | U-110 captured intact by the British (Williamson, Wolf Pack) | ||||
June 1941 | Joseph Rochefort takes command of the radio intelligence unit of the 14th Naval District in Hawaii, renaming it the Combat Intelligence Unit | ||||
October 1941 | Desch’s lab develops a counting bank, using his thyratron tubes, capable of counting at 1,000,000 impulses per second (1 MH in today’s terms). Desch presents a talk on this topic in December at an Electronic Counter Conference in Washington. George Harrison of the Instruments Section of the NDRD later write Desch that his talk was “quite effective”.(NCR Archive) | ||||
15 November 1941 | Launch of U-459, the first Type XIV tanker U-boat, or so-called Milchkuh (Williamson, Wolf Pack) | ||||
Date | MilItary | Cryptologic | Dayton | ||
13 January 1942 | Operation Paukenschlag offensive against shipping off the American coast begins. The start of the second “Happy Time” (Williamson, Wolf Pack) | ||||
1 February 1942 | German Navy introduced 4-rotor ENIGMA for U-Boats | ||||
FRUMEL, US Navy’s Fleet Radio Unit, Melbourne, established to assist General MacArthur, 1942 | |||||
11 February 1942 | The Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen rush out of Brest through the English Channel to northern ports, including Wilhelmshaven, Germany; the British naval units fail to sink any of them. | ||||
5 March 1942 | Station HYPO began reading Japanese system JN-25 | ||||
March 1942 | US Navy and National Cash Register Company sign a contract to develop and construct specialized machines. This contract establishes the Naval Computing Machine Laboratory | ||||
5 May 1942 | The Battle of the Coral Sea begins, set up by Station HYPO COMINT | ||||
June 1942 | More than 600,000 tons of shipping were sunk (Budiansky, Battle of Wits, p. 236). This was close to Admiral Doenitz’s goal of 700,000 which he felt would cripple Britain | ||||
18 June 1942 | Manhattan Project begins; Churchill arrives in Washington for meetings with Roosevelt | ||||
30 July 1942 | WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) established | ||||
4 September 1942 | US Navy approves the plan for bombe construction | ||||
December 1942 | The total figures of Allied losses during 1942 in the Atlantic: 1,664 ships, of 7,790,691 tons. U-boats alone sank 1,160 ships and 6,226,215 tons.(Parrish, The Ultra Americans) | ||||
Date | MilItary | Cryptologic | Dayton | ||
14 January 1943 | Casablanca Conference of Allied leaders begins. Churchill and Roosevelt discuss the eventual invasion of mainland Europe, the invasion of Sicily and Italy, and the principle of unconditional surrender | ||||
1 February 1943 | SIS began Project Venona | ||||
7 February 1943 | U.S. Navy OP-20-G moved to Nebraska Avenue | ||||
17 March 1943 | President Roosevelt orders that that Navy Contract NXs 7892 with the National Cash Register Company is given the highest possible preference rating (AAA) commencing this date. | ||||
April 1943 | WAVES begin arriving by train at Union Station in Dayton to report for duty at the US NCML. | ||||
2 May 1943 | First two US Navy bombes at the USNCML begin tests (Budiansky, p. 343) | ||||
June 1943 | There were some 65 officers and 500 enlisted personnel stationed at the USNCML for training purposes. | ||||
31 August 1943 | first US Navy bombes arrive in Washington (Budiansky, p. 344) | ||||
1 September 1943 | First Bombe shipped to Nebraska Avenue | ||||
14 January 1944 | BRUSA Agreement — US/UK COMINT relationships during World War II | ||||
4 June 1944 | U-505, with a wealth of cryptographic material and machines intact, became first enemy warship captured by an American naval boarding party since the War of 1812 | ||||
30 January 1945 | The speed and efficiency with which those projects were processed is indicated in a letter of 30 January 1945 from DNC to DinC, USNCML stating in part30 Jan “The skillful and expeditious handling of a special project for the Asst DNC, Op-20-G, during the months of December 1944 is an outstanding example of magnificent accomplishment and a most important contribution to the war effort.” | ||||
15 August 1945 | Japan announced its surrender | ||||
15 Aug 1946 | A continuation of the Research and Development work at Dayton was covered by a final contract dated 1 July 1945 and terminated 15 August 1946. | ||||