Room 40

Room 40 (English for room 40 ) was an intelligence department of the British Admiralty during the First World War. The code breakers of Room 40 dealt with the deciphering of secret messages of the German Empire. The basis was the salvaged codebook stranded on the Russian Baltic coast in August 1914 SMS Magdeburg. Your probably biggest success was the deciphering of the Zimmermann telegram, which contributed significantly to the entry of the United States.

1914 Rear Admiral Oliver won the Scottish physicist James Alfred Ewing to building a cryptographic department. After this division grew, she moved in November 1914 in the 40 rooms of the old Admiralty building and has since been called Room 40. At present, the deciphering of the Zimmermann telegram they employed approximately 800 radio operators and 80 cryptographers and office workers. In October 1916 Ewing left the group and the new head was Admiral William Reginald Hall.

Later, Room 40 was dissolved. Some of the staff were found in Bletchley Park again where German Enigma messages were deciphered in the Second World War.