Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes, 1933-1945

“An absorbing and thoroughly well documented account” of WWII naval intelligence and the Allied hunt for the Nazi code machine known as the Enigma (Warship).

From the start of World War II to mid-1943, British and American naval forces fought a desperate battle against German submarine wolfpacks. And the Allies might have lost the struggle at sea without an astounding intelligence coup. Here, the author brings to life the race to break the German U-boat codes.

As the Battle of the Atlantic raged, Hitler’s U-boats reigned. To combat the growing crisis, ingenious amateurs joined the nucleus of dedicated professionals at Bletchley Park to unlock the continually changing German naval codes. Their mission: to read the U-boat messages of Hitler’s cipher device, the Enigma.

They first found success with the capture of U-110,—which yielded the Enigma machine itself and a trove of secret documents. Then the weather ship Lauenburg seized near the Arctic ice pack provided code settings for an entire month. Finally, two sailors rescued a German weather cipher that enabled the team at Bletchley to solve the Enigma after a year-long blackout.

In “a highly recommended account with a wealth of materials” Seizing the Enigma tells the story of a determined corps of people who helped turn the tide of the war (Naval Historical Foundation).