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LD Thomas Jefferson created a cipher system using 26 wheels with the alphabet randomly scattered on each wheel. The wheels were arranged with a specified order. This order is the encryption key to the encryption algorithm. The message to be encrypted is spelled on the wheels by lining up the wheels such that the message is shown.

The ciphertext is any other line not containing the original message. The person decrypting the ciphertext must arrange the wheels according to the key.

As the ciphertext is made on the wheels, the plaintext is lined up somewhere else on the wheels. Viewing the wheels quickly reveals the words of the plaintext. There is an extremely small chance that more than one non-gibberish message will emerge on the wheels during decryption.

The United States Army rediscovered and reinvented the wheel cipher over a hundred years After Jefferson first conceived it. The Army used this system from 1923 to 1942. The US Navy also used this system and it was broken by the Germans, this assisted in creating in "the second happy time" from January 1942 to about August of that year.

In this time, German U-boat captains caused extensive death and destruction. The hunting was good for Capt Reinhard Hardegen who in U-123 sank seven ships totaling 46,744 tons before he ran out of torpedoes and returned to base. It can be argued that war is evil and it can be proven that some good came from the United States Army's use of encryption, cryptography, and codes.

It is clear that the army being able to communicate in encrypted code is a good thing as the loss of secrecy and security in communications can have disastrous effects on human casualties and destruction. It is also reasonably clear that operating in secrecy can cause destruction and loss of life on the side of the enemy.

Encryption used by warring forces is definitely a two-edged sword. That has stunning results good and bad. Failure in cryptography is also known to provide stunning results and if the failure is bad enough can cause battles as well as the war, in general, to be lost.

The Bible speaks much about war in Psalms 144:1(KJV) - "(A Psalm of David.) Blessed [be] the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, [and] my fingers to fight:" the Bible seems to indicate that wars are a reality.

References Budanovic, N. (2018). Operation Drumbeat - U-Boat Happy Days On The USA East Coast. WAR HISTORY ONLINE.

USS Pampanito - CSP-488. (2018). Maritime website.