Codebreaking in the Pacific

2012/10/01 by J. Mack · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Social Sciences · #Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Biomedical Research #Island Studies and Pacific Affairs

paper · doi:10.1080/03071847.2012.733119

openalex publication_date 2012/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

The ability to decrypt Japanese naval codes in the Second World War was of great importance to the Allied effort in the Pacific. However despite both the army and navy using the same cipher system, a series of Japanese errors led to the naval codes being successfully attacked by codebreakers even before the start of hostilities. John Mack outlines the cryptographic system, and shows how the Imperial Japanese Navy's operational codes were broken through a combination of skill and blunder.

Cited by

• History of the United States Navy [wikipedia]

Related

• Bletchley Park’s work on JN-25
• Agents, attachés, and intelligence failures: the Imperial Japanese Navy’s efforts to establish espionage networks in the United States before Pearl Harbor
• The Turing Bombe Victory and the first naval Enigma decrypts
• The Archaeology of World War II Japanese Stragglers on the Island of Guam and the Bushido Code
• Half a century of naval communications security: the Perea code and its operational legacy in the Spanish Navy