JADE was the
codename
A code name, codename, call sign, or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in ...
given by US codebreakers to a Japanese
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
cipher machine. The
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, Potsdam Declaration, when it was dissolved followin ...
used the machine for communications from late 1942 until 1944. JADE was similar to another cipher machine, CORAL, with the main difference that JADE was used to encipher messages in
katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji).
The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...
using an alphabet of 50 symbols.
[https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/center-cryptologic-history/pearl-harbor-review/early-japanese/ Early Japanese Systems NSA Center for Cryptologic History]
According to the NSA, "apparently, the JADE machine did not stand up to heavy usage in the field, and, after an initial high volume of traffic, it was used much less." While CORAL traffic was also low, an important user was a Japanese representative, Vice Admiral Abe, to an Axis war-planning council whose reports coded in CORAL were intercepted and proved vital to Allied planning in the European theater.
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See also
* Type A Cipher Machine ("Red")
* Type B Cipher Machine
The "System 97 Typewriter for European Characters" (九七式欧文印字機 ''kyūnana-shiki ōbun injiki'') or "Type B Cipher Machine", codenamed Purple by the United States, was an encryption machine used by the Japanese Foreign Office f ...
("Purple")
External links
TENTATIVE LIST OF ENIGMA AND OTHER MACHINE USAGES 30 March 1945
— JADE is covered
References
References from Japanese Wikipedia
*Separate Mathematical Sciences Cryptography, Science Inc., 1982, “Deciphering Japanese Machine Cryptography in the United States and Its Theoretical Considerations”, Masataka Kato
*Machine Cryptography and Modern Cryptanalysis, Cipher A. Deavours, Louis Kruh, ARTECH HOUSE, 1985
*BIG MACHINES, Stephen J. Kelley, Aegean Park Press, 2001
*"Naval Operational Communication History", Guard Corps School of Art, Showa 28
*"Shin Takayama Tore 128," Miyauchi Kanto, Rokuko Publishing, 1975
*History of Kitajima Island Naval Forces, "Cryptographic Printing Machine and Thin-Bar Type Replacement Board", Kakuji Ishigami, 1985
*"A review of correspondence warfare and correspondence warfare measures", Yoshio Nakano, 1955
Encryption devices
World War II Japanese cryptography
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