The Sound of Music

[jacobtowne]

"At the beginning of the war, therefore, despite the brilliant codebreaking feats of the past, the navy was unable to read any of the major Japanese military codes. All navy efforts were thrown into breaking down the new standard five-digit code introduced in December, 1941, but ....field stations were seriously handicapped by lack of trained personnel and equipment. In addition, officers with a knowledge of Japanese were rare......The codebreaking unit in Hawaii was so shorthanded it was reinforced by musicians from the stricken battleship California.They proved to be such able natural cryptanalysts that Naval Intelligence began to pay special attention to recruiting men with musical backgrounds."

Source: Eagle Against the Sun by Ronald Spector. The author attributes Blair's Silent Victory as his source.

JT