Enigma machine used by the Nazis to send secret messages to German forces across Europe during World War II is accidentally discovered in the depths of the Baltic Sea

  • The relic was found at the bottom of Gelting Bay, on Germany's northern coast
  • Divers had been removing abandoned fishing nets when they came across it
  • Enigma machines worked by repeatedly scrambling letters in changing ways
  • This let the Nazi forces to safely send messages by radio as part of blitzkrieg
  • However, experts at Bletchley Park were able to decrypt the changing codes 

An Enigma machine — the German encryption device used by Nazi forces to send secret message during World War II — has been recovered from the Baltic Sea.

Divers recovered the device at the bottom of Gelting Bay, on Germany's northern coast, while working to remove abandoned fishing nets that threaten marine life.

Designed shortly after WWI by the engineer Arthur Scherbius for commercial usage, the cipher engine was adopted by many national governments and militaries.The portable device is best-known for its use by the Axis powers to encode military commands, for safe transmission by radio, as part of their rapid 'blitzkrieg' strategy. 

Enigma featured a number of wheels, which together formed an electric circuit that repeatedly scrambled an entered character — and reconfigured after each letter.

German military models — made more complex through the addition of a plugboard, for added scrambling — and their codebooks were highly sought by the allies. 

Codebooks contained the daily instructions for how operators should pick and set the machine's code wheels and plugs which encoded the messages.

Understanding the principles behind the machine and its daily code changes allowed experts at Bletchley Park, led by Alan Turing, to learn to decrypt Nazi radio transmissions.

At their peak, the Allied forces decoded some 3,000 German messages a day — notably helping the admiralty track down U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic.

An Enigma machine — the German encryption device used by Nazi forces to send secret message during World War II — has been recovered from the Baltic Sea, pictured

An Enigma machine — the German encryption device used by Nazi forces to send secret message during World War II — has been recovered from the Baltic Sea, pictured

Designed shortly after WWI by the engineer Arthur Scherbius for commercial usage, the cipher engine (pictured) was adopted by many national governments and militaries

Designed shortly after WWI by the engineer Arthur Scherbius for commercial usage, the cipher engine (pictured) was adopted by many national governments and militaries

The find was a discovery like no other, said Gabriele Dederer of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which hired the divers for the marine conservation effort.

'The WWF has been working for many years to rid the Baltic Sea of dangerous ghost nets,' she added.

Abandoned or lost fishing nets, known as ghost nets, represent a deadly trap for fish, marine mammals and sea birds — and are a form of underwater pollution. 

'We regularly find larger objects, on which the nets get tangled underwater. Such so-called "hook points" are often tree trunks or stones,' Ms Dederer said.

'The Enigma is by far the most exciting historic find.'

The device was found on the seabed after Submaris — a company based in Kiel — used side-viewing sonar technology to identify the net that it was caught in.

Submaris diver Florian Huber said that the machine was most likely sent to its watery resting place in May 1945.

That month saw 47 German U-boats scuttled in Gelting Bay by their crews, who were determined not to let the vessels fall into the hands of the Allies.

'We suspect that our Enigma went overboard in the course of this event,' Mr Huber explained.

The portable device, pictured, is best-known for its use by the Axis powers to encode military commands, for safe transmission by radio, as part of their rapid 'blitzkrieg' strategy

The portable device, pictured, is best-known for its use by the Axis powers to encode military commands, for safe transmission by radio, as part of their rapid 'blitzkrieg' strategy

Submaris diver Florian Huber said that the machine was likely sent to its watery resting place in May 1945. This month saw 47 German U-boats (like the one pictured) scuttled in Gelting Bay by their crews, who were determined not to let the vessels fall into the Allies' hands

Submaris diver Florian Huber said that the machine was likely sent to its watery resting place in May 1945. This month saw 47 German U-boats (like the one pictured) scuttled in Gelting Bay by their crews, who were determined not to let the vessels fall into the Allies' hands

Enigma featured a number of wheels, which together formed an electric circuit that repeatedly scrambled an entered character — and reconfigured after each letter. German military models — made more complex through the addition of a plugboard, for added scrambling — and their codebooks were highly sought by the allies. Codebooks contained the daily instructions for how operators should pick and set the machine's code wheels and plugs which encoded the messages. Pictured, the newly recovered Enigma machine on the seafloor

Enigma featured a number of wheels, which together formed an electric circuit that repeatedly scrambled an entered character — and reconfigured after each letter. German military models — made more complex through the addition of a plugboard, for added scrambling — and their codebooks were highly sought by the allies. Codebooks contained the daily instructions for how operators should pick and set the machine's code wheels and plugs which encoded the messages. Pictured, the newly recovered Enigma machine on the seafloor

Copies of the Enigma machine are now 'extremely rare', Mr Huber noted, with 'only a few specimens […] available in German museums'.

'As an underwater archaeologist, I have already made many exciting and strange finds,' he continued.

'However, I didn’t dream that we would once find an Enigma machine.'

'It was a grey November day I will not forget so soon.'

The find was a discovery like no other, said Gabriele Dederer of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which hired the divers for the marine conservation effort

The find was a discovery like no other, said Gabriele Dederer of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), which hired the divers for the marine conservation effort

Copies of the Enigma machine (pictured) are now 'extremely rare', Mr Huber noted, with 'only a few specimens […] available in German museums'

Copies of the Enigma machine (pictured) are now 'extremely rare', Mr Huber noted, with 'only a few specimens […] available in German museums'

The WWF has been working for many years to rid the Baltic Sea of dangerous ghost nets,' she added. 'We regularly find larger objects, on which the nets get tangled underwater. Such so-called "hook points" are often tree trunks or stones,' Ms Dederer said. 'The Enigma is by far the most exciting historic find.' Pictured, a diver photographs the Enigma machine underwater

The WWF has been working for many years to rid the Baltic Sea of dangerous ghost nets,' she added. 'We regularly find larger objects, on which the nets get tangled underwater. Such so-called "hook points" are often tree trunks or stones,' Ms Dederer said. 'The Enigma is by far the most exciting historic find.' Pictured, a diver photographs the Enigma machine underwater

The newly-discovered Enigma machine has now been sent to Museum of Archaeology in Schleswig, where it will be preserved and studied further.

The WWF — which has released an app showing the location of suspected 'ghost' nets — has asked divers making use of the data to respect any historical artefacts they might uncover as a result.

'Should further archaeological finds come up, we would like to point out that there is a legal obligation to report them, as this could be underwater cultural heritage,' commented Ms Dederer.

Divers recovered the device at the bottom of Gelting Bay, on the Germany's northern coast, while working to remove abandoned fishing nets that threaten marine life

Divers recovered the device at the bottom of Gelting Bay, on the Germany's northern coast, while working to remove abandoned fishing nets that threaten marine life

Understanding the principles behind the machine and its daily code changes allowed experts at Bletchley Park to learn to decrypt Nazi radio transmissions. At their peak, the Allied forces decoded some 3,000 German messages a day — notably helping the admiralty track down U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic. Pictured, a reconstruction of one of Alan Turing's Bombe machines which was used to help decrypt Enigma messages

Understanding the principles behind the machine and its daily code changes allowed experts at Bletchley Park to learn to decrypt Nazi radio transmissions. At their peak, the Allied forces decoded some 3,000 German messages a day — notably helping the admiralty track down U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic. Pictured, a reconstruction of one of Alan Turing's Bombe machines which was used to help decrypt Enigma messages

WHAT WAS THE ENIGMA MACHINE?

The Enigma machine was a device used to encrypt messages by the German military during the Second World War

The Enigma machine was a device used to encrypt messages by the German military during the Second World War

The Enigma was a type of enciphering machine used by the German armed forces to send messages securely during the Second World War.

It used a complex series of rotors and lights to encrypt messages by swapping letters around via an ever-changing 'enigma code'.

Polish mathematicians worked out how to read enigma messages prior to 1939, and shared this information with the British.

But German cryptographers upgraded the security of the machines at the outbreak of the war by changing the cipher system daily.

A team of researchers, including famed British mathematician Alan Turing, eventually broke the enigma code in 1941.

They invented devices known as Bombe machines that could decipher the enigma code, allowing Allied forces to intercept German messages.

It is believed that the work of Turing and his team shortened the war's duration by up to two years.

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