A World War II Enigma machine recently recovered from the Baltic Sea.
German research divers recently looking for abandoned fishing nets along the Baltic seafloor that threaten marine life, found a rare piece of history: an Enigma machine the German encryption device used by Nazi forces to send secret message during World War II.
Designed shortly after WWI by the engineer Arthur Scherbius for commercial usage, the cipher engine was adopted by many national governments and militaries.
The device was found off the coast of northeast Germany in the Bay of Gelting, which is part of the Baltic Sea, after Submaris a company based in Kiel used side-viewing sonar technology to identify the net that it was caught in.
From the bottom of the sea rose a piece of ‘encrypted’ history. What were the Nazi Enigmas?
Rusty and covered with barnacle, the machine is now in the restoration workshop of the Museum of Archaeology in Gottorf Castle in Schleswig, Germany. What is this cipher machine, and what role did it play in the War? What is its value now? Written by Vandana Kalra , Edited by Explained Desk | New Delhi | Updated: December 13, 2020 8:43:34 am
Diver and underwater archaeologist Florian Huber touches a rare Enigma cipher machine used by the Nazi military during World War Two, in Gelting Bay near Flensburg, Germany. (Reuters)