# Hut 8 > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hut_8 > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hut_8.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hut_8 > Source revision: 1348132063 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Section of Bletchley Park codebreaking station, England Hut 8 The Enigma cipher machine Enigma machine Enigma rotors Breaking Enigma Polish Cipher Bureau Doubles Grill Clock Cyclometer Bomba Zygalski sheets Bletchley Park Banburismus Herivel tip Crib Bombe Hut 3 Hut 4 Hut 6 Hut 8 PC Bruno Cadix Related Ultra v t e **Hut 8** was a section in the [Government Code and Cypher School](/source/Government_Code_and_Cypher_School) (GC&CS) at [Bletchley Park](/source/Bletchley_Park) (the British [World War II](/source/World_War_II) [codebreaking](/source/Codebreaking) station, located in [Buckinghamshire](/source/Buckinghamshire)) tasked with solving German naval ([Kriegsmarine](/source/Kriegsmarine)) [Enigma](/source/Enigma_machine) messages. The section was led initially by [Alan Turing](/source/Alan_Turing). He was succeeded in November 1942 by his deputy, [Hugh Alexander](/source/Conel_Hugh_O'Donel_Alexander). Patrick Mahon succeeded Alexander in September 1944.[1] Hut 8 was partnered with [Hut 4](/source/Hut_4), which handled the translation and intelligence analysis of the raw decrypts provided by Hut 8. Located initially in one of the original single-story wooden huts, the name "Hut 8" was retained when Huts 3, 6 & 8 moved to a new brick building, Block D, in February 1943.[2] After 2005, the first Hut 8 was restored to its wartime condition, and it now houses the "[HMS *Petard*](/source/HMS_Petard_(G56)) Exhibition".[3] ## Operation In 1940, a few breaks were made into the naval "Dolphin" code, but [Luftwaffe](/source/Luftwaffe) messages were the first to be read in quantity.[4] The German navy had much tighter procedures, and the capture of code books was needed (see [Battle of the Atlantic § Enigma cipher](/source/Battle_of_the_Atlantic#Enigma_cipher)) before they could be broken. In February 1942, the German navy introduced "Triton", a version of Enigma with a fourth rotor for messages to and from Atlantic U-boats; these became unreadable for a period of ten months during a crucial period (see [Enigma in 1942](/source/Battle_of_the_Atlantic#Enigma_in_1942)). Britain produced modified [bombes](/source/Bombe), but it was the success of the [US Navy bombe](/source/Bombe#US_Navy_Bombe) that was the main source of reading messages from this version of Enigma for the rest of the war.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] Messages were sent to and from across the Atlantic by enciphered teleprinter links. ## Personnel In addition to the [cryptanalysts](/source/Cryptanalysts), around 130 women worked in Hut 8 and provided essential clerical support including punching holes into the [Banbury sheets](/source/Banburismus). Hut 8 relied on [Wrens](/source/Women's_Royal_Naval_Service) to run the [bombes](/source/Bombe) housed elsewhere at Bletchley.[1] ### Code breakers - [Alan Turing](/source/Alan_Turing) - [Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander](/source/Conel_Hugh_O'Donel_Alexander) - [Michael Arbuthnot Ashcroft](/source/Michael_Arbuthnot_Ashcroft)[1] - [Joan Clarke](/source/Joan_Clarke)[1] - [Joseph Gillis](/source/Joseph_Gillis)[5] - [Harry Golombek](/source/Harry_Golombek) - [I. J. Good](/source/I._J._Good) - [Peter Hilton](/source/Peter_Hilton), January 1942 to late 1942 - [Rosalind Hudson](/source/Rosalind_Hudson) - Charlie Bierman - F Anthony Kendrick[1] - [Leslie Lambert](/source/Leslie_Lambert) (aka "A. J. Alan") - Patrick Mahon[1] - [Rolf Noskwith](/source/Rolf_Noskwith)[1] - Richard Pendered[1] - [John H. Plumb](/source/John_H._Plumb), moved from [Hut 3](/source/Hut_3); (later a historian) [6] - [Shaun Wylie](/source/Shaun_Wylie)[1] - [Leslie Yoxall](/source/Leslie_Yoxall) devised *Yoxallismus* technique - [Judith Irene Bloomfield](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Judith_Irene_Bloomfield&action=edit&redlink=1) ## See also - [Action This Day (memo)](/source/Action_This_Day_(memo)) - [Banburismus](/source/Banburismus) - [Hut 4](/source/Hut_4) - [Hut 6](/source/Hut_6) - [Cryptanalysis of the Enigma](/source/Cryptanalysis_of_the_Enigma) - [Huts at Bletchley Park](/source/Bletchley_Park#Huts) - [B-Dienst](/source/B-Dienst) - [OP-20-G](/source/OP-20-G) ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-codebreakers.hut8_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-codebreakers.hut8_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-codebreakers.hut8_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-codebreakers.hut8_1-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-codebreakers.hut8_1-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-codebreakers.hut8_1-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-codebreakers.hut8_1-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-codebreakers.hut8_1-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-codebreakers.hut8_1-8) [Noskwith 2011](#CITEREFNoskwith2011) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Asa Briggs](/source/Asa_Briggs) (2011), *Secret Days: Code-breaking in Bletchley Park*, London: Frontline Books, p. 70 [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-84832-615-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-84832-615-6) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** "Hut 8 Open Again". *Radio and Communications Monitoring Monthly*. Vol. 3, no. 4. April 2008. p. 12. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1749-7809](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1749-7809). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** *Secret Days: Code-breaking in Bletchley Park* by [Asa Briggs](/source/Asa_Briggs) (2011, Frontline Books, London) p 75 [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-84832-615-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-84832-615-6) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** *Breaking Teleprinter Ciphers at Bletchley Park*, Biographical Notes (2015, Wiley-IEEE) p 547 [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0470465899](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0470465899) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Briggs (2011) p.52 - [Alexander, C. Hugh O'D.](/source/Conel_Hugh_O'Donel_Alexander) (c. 1945), [*Cryptographic History of Work on the German Naval Enigma*](http://www.ellsbury.com/gne/gne-000.htm), The National Archives, Kew, Reference HW 25/1 - Mahon, A.P. (1945), [*The History of Hut Eight 1939 - 1945*](http://www.ellsbury.com/hut8/hut8-000.htm), UK National Archives Reference HW 25/2, retrieved 10 December 2009 - Rolf Noskwith, *Hut 8 from the Inside* - pages 197-210 of *Action this Day*, edited by Michael Smith & Ralph Erskine (2001, Bantam London) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-593-04910-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-593-04910-1) - [Noskwith, Rolf](/source/Rolf_Noskwith) (2011). "Chapter 12: Hut 8 From the Inside". In Erskine, Ralph; [Smith, Michael](/source/Michael_Smith_(newspaper_reporter)) (eds.). *The Bletchley Park Codebreakers*. Biteback Publishing. pp. 184–194. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1849540780](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1849540780). (Updated and extended version of *Action This Day: From Breaking of the Enigma Code to the Birth of the Modern Computer* Bantam Press 2001) [51°59′50″N 0°44′31″W / 51.99717°N 0.74193°W / 51.99717; -0.74193](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Hut_8¶ms=51.99717_N_0.74193_W_) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hut 8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hut_8) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hut_8?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.