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ROOM 40

67

UNASSUMING

AMATEURS

The cryptographers at Room 40

could best be described as gifted

amateurs. Initially, the group was

managed by Scottish physicist

Alfred Ewing, who worked on

the properties of metals before

the war, constructing ciphers

as a hobby. The three men

who successfully decoded the

Zimmerman letter were a

typically eclectic group. William

Montgomery had made his name

translating theological works

from German. Alfred “Dilly”

Knox was a classics scholar at

King’s College, Cambridge,

specializing in the study of

ancient manuscripts written on

papyrus. Book editor and linguist

Nigel de Grey, meanwhile, was

so small and shy that he was

nicknamed “the dormouse.”

These unassuming, bookish

individuals set the gold standard

for wartime cryptography

departments—highly gifted

civilians working in top secret—

that would famously be repeated

in World War II at Bletchley Park

(see pages 126–127), at which

de Grey would also work.

Left:

Alfred Ewing

passed to the Admiralty by the Russians. The first notable success came in

January 1915, when Room 40 decoded messages outlining plans to attack

British fishing boats in the North Sea, information that contributed decisively

to the British victory in the ensuing Battle of Dogger Bank.

TRACKING GERMAN MOVEMENTS

In addition to breaking codes, analysts at Room 40 developed a system of

traffic analysis to track the movements of German ships. They did this by

locating the origin of radio signals. By pinpointing the positions of U-boats,

Room 40 was able to identify the British ships most vulnerable to attack.

However, this left the Admiralty with a dilemma, as acting on every piece

of information would tip off the Germans to Room 40’s existence. Such

misgivings often led to delays in relaying information to the fleet admirals,

who missed the chance for a number of possible victories in the North Sea.

Nevertheless, its highly reliable information continued to prove vital

throughout the war.

LOUD AND CLEAR!

By the end of the war, Room 40 had decrypted around fifteen thousand

German communications. The huge volume of messages available had

been aided by the German ships’ habit of communicating frequently and

transmitting at full power. British ships, by contrast, were instructed to

use the radio only sparingly and to keep transmission power to a minimum.

The Germans finally changed their habits in 1917, suspecting that the

British were using signals to locate ships but still unaware that their

messages were being read. The success of Room 40 came from the

combination of the brilliance of its members and the strict secrecy

that kept its very existence under wraps.