Bombe machines

E310474

Bombe machines were electro-mechanical devices used during World War II to help decrypt German Enigma-encrypted communications by automating the search for cipher settings.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Bombe machines canonical 2

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf World War II technology
cryptanalytic device
electro-mechanical machine
automationLevel semi-automatic
basedOn Polish Bomba kryptologiczna
computingParadigm electro-mechanical computation
conflictRole signals intelligence
countryOfOrigin United Kingdom
designedBy Alan Turing
Gordon Welchman
Harold Keen
developedAt Bletchley Park
developedBy Allied cryptanalysts
hasComponent control panel
electrical wiring
plugboard connections
rotating drums
historicalSignificance contributed to shortening World War II
influenced development of early computing
inputType cribs (known or guessed plaintext)
languageOfTargetMessages German
locationOfUse Bletchley Park Bombe huts
linked to: Bletchley Park

U.S. Navy cryptologic stations
manufacturedBy British Tabulating Machine Company
operatedBy British Government Code and Cypher School
linked to: Bletchley Park

Royal Navy
United States Navy
Women’s Royal Naval Service
operationalEnd 1945
operationalStart 1940
outputType candidate Enigma key settings
partOf Allied codebreaking effort
Ultra intelligence program
linked to: Ultra intelligence
primaryFunction eliminating impossible Enigma rotor settings
searching for Enigma daily key settings
relatedTo Bomba kryptologiczna
Enigma machine
Ultra (intelligence project)
linked to: Ultra intelligence
securityClassification Top Secret (during World War II)
successor Colossus computer (for other ciphers)
linked to: Colossus computers
targetedCipher Enigma machine
German military Enigma
linked to: Enigma machine
usedAgainst Kriegsmarine communications
Nazi Germany
Wehrmacht communications
usedBy United Kingdom
United States
usedDuring World War II
usedFor cryptanalysis
decrypting Enigma-encrypted communications

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Bletchley Park developed Bombe machines