We continue with JUDE'S comments on breaking of the ENIGMA TRITON codes

"As for the ENIGMA - the final version contained four coding wheels in the machine itself. On a daily basis, four wheels out of a possible eight were chosen according to the pre-arranged key of the day:

Each wheel had 26 positions indicated by either a letter of the alphabet, but no specialized German characters were used; or chosen by the numbers 1 through 26. I verified this at the Smithsonian where they had a TRITON 4-wheel machine on display.

The outer rim of each wheel was adjustable to each of 26 positions so each wheel represented 26 x 26 possibilities (676 possible arrangements of each wheel). With a potential for choosing only four of eight wheels one is looking at 26 to the 8th power of possibilities in just choosing and setting the four wheels to be used. Add to that the random wiring potential of another power of 26, plus another power inherent in the mechanics of the ENIGMA machine itself, we are now looking at 141,167,100,000,000 possible variations.

If it were possible to evaluate those variations at the rate of 10,000 per second, it would require 1,611,497 years! And this is just to break the code for a single day!

More Jude and Ultra

Jude and Ultra [KTB 104]
Jude and Ultra [KTB 105]
Jude and Ultra [KTB 106]
Jude and Ultra [KTB 107]
Jude and Ultra [KTB 108]
Jude and Ultra (End) [KTB 109]