Women's Royal Naval Service
Videos
The Women's Royal Naval Service was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the beginning
A WRNS rating during the Second World War
Two Ordnance Wrens in Liverpool reassemble a section of a pom-pom gun during the Second World War.
Second World War recruitment poster
A Mark 2 Colossus computer operated by Wrens.
Colossus computer
Videos
Colossus was a set of computers developed by British codebreakers in the years 1943–1945 to help in the cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher. Colossus used thermionic valves to perform Boolean and count
Women's Royal Naval Service
…Wrens were prominent as support staff at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park; they were the direct operators of the bombes and Colossus used to break Axis codes and cyphers. The WRNS remained in existence after the end of the war although Mathews retired in 1947 and Goodenough had died…
A Lorenz SZ42 cipher machine with its covers removed at The National Museum of Computing on Bletchley Park
The Lorenz SZ machines had 12 wheels, each with a different number of cams (or "pins"). Wheel number 123456789101112 BP wheel name ψ1 ψ2 ψ3 ψ4 ψ5 μ37 μ61 χ1 χ2 χ3 χ4 χ5 Number of cams (pins) 434751535937614131292623
Cams on wheels 9 and 10 showing their raised (active) and lowered (inactive) positions. An active cam reversed the value of a bit (0→1 and 1→0).