Divers found the Enigma in a fishing net
Categories: Hardware findings , Nálezy nejenom s detektorem kovů v mořích a oceanech
German divers from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), searching discarded fishing nets in the Baltic Sea, came across a surprising thing. From the water they pulled out a rare Enigma cipher machine used by the Nazi army during World War II.
Divers are searching the discarded nets because they pose a great danger to marine animals. Originally, they thought they had discovered only an ordinary sewing machine tangled in the net. But underwater archaeologist Florian Huber quickly realised it was an important historical find. The machine was probably dumped into the sea from a submarine.
"I've found many strange things over the last 20 years, but I never dreamed we would discover one of the legendary sewingEnigma machines," says Huber, who was part of a cruise in Gelting Bay in the south-east of the Jutland peninsula.
The Nazi army used these encryption machines during World War II to send and receive secret messages. But British cryptographers cracked the code, which helped the Allies during the naval battles for control of the Atlantic. It was done by a team of cryptographers led by Alan Turing, who were based at the former Bletchley Park estate, about 50 miles northwest of London. This feat saved the lives of thousands of people.
In May 1945, shortly before the German surrender, the crews of about fifty U-boats were given clear orders to sink the vessels near Gelting Bay near the Danish border to keep them out of Allied 'hands'. The instructions also included the destruction of the cipher devices. The Enigma worked on the principle of wheels turning against each other to indicate which two letters would correspond.
"We think the Enigma we found was just thrown overboard during this controlled destruction," stated Huber, who is a member of Submaris, a company that conducts underwater research missions.
In all, the Germans had over 200 of their submarines sunk in the North Sea and Baltic Sea by the end of the war. Some 37,000 Enigma cipher machines were produced, but only over two hundred have turned up. They sell for tens of thousands of euros at auction.
Divers who found one of these machines in the Baltic Sea have already made up their minds how to dispose of it. They're donating it to the archaeological museum at Gottorf Castle in Schleswig-Holstein.
Sources: www.reuters.com, https://phys.org/, www.usnews.com
The article is included in categories:
- Archive of articles > Wars > Second World War > Hardware findings
- Archive of articles > Archaeology > Finds and rescue research abroad > Nálezy nejenom s detektorem kovů v mořích a oceanech
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Ty woe, lízlo mě to na netu, ale neotevřel jsem to, měl jsem to za fake 
mozno zaujimavejsie a aktualnejsie by bolo sem hodit nieco o keltskej soske so zlatymi ocami co nasli u nas.....
Teda fakt pěknej nález, ale rád bych viděl jak proběhne repase, tady asi oliváč bude málo 
Peters je to fake..V clanku že to vytahli ve stare sity,a na fotce to potapeč doluje s pisčityho dna. takovej bulvar pro hledače.
Marczus - píšou, že prohledávali odhozenou síť. V Baltu je na dně hodně vraků a většina z nich je pokrytá utrhanými sítěmi rybářů. Síť se rybářům buďto utrhne o překážku na dně, častěji o vrak nebo ji rybáři prostě odhodí, když je potrhaná. Nicméně i kdyby to našli ležet jen tak na dně, tak je to obrovská náhoda a parádní nález 👍