GERMAN1 NAVAL CODE

Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1932, Page 9

GERMAN 1 NAVAL CODE

.* t I y- . : STORY OF THE' DISCOVERY'. ’ ’ BATTLE OF THE FALKLANDS. . The important and, exciting work of unravelling the secret code used by the German Pacific Squadron , ip the early months of the war was described by Dr. F. W.-Wheatley, in a,recent lecture t 6 the Royal Empire Society- in Sydney;. ■At the outbreak of,the. war Dr. Wheatley was transferred ; from. the . Na.yal College to* the war’ staff of the Navy Office in Melbourne, and';waa placed'm charge of all iniercepted/WirelesS mes- ; sages. ~. ’ ' : • Dr. Wheatly told first of his expertences in Germany six months'before the declaration of war, when he . accompanied the ■ Germany Army in' manoeuvres for a month, and had conversations and diued with the Crown Pnnce, Admiral von Tirpitz, and General von Hindenburg. This enabled him to perfect his knowledge of German and helped him to deal successfully with the intercepted messages in t^ a \J an |’V?'g e ‘ Numerous messages,. said Dr. Wheatley, were received in the" strahge coos just before the battle -of CoroneL He explained how he worked night and day trying to discover the. key. The method adopted was shown, by. means of a chart, and he described the joy of the members of the staff when the solution was found on Melbourne Cup day, 1914. "j. The decoding of the message revealed the itinerary of the German Squadron, with the result that the First; Sea Lord, Lord Fisher, sent the Invincible and the Inflexible to the Falkland Islands and the Allies gained their first big naval victory. Many messages of ; international importance were deciphered, and copies of the code book and key were forwarded to the Admiralty and. to every man-of-war in the Empire. This was all done by confidential clerks in the Na-* Office under the direction or Dr.. Wht...iey.