13 Facts About Joseph Rochefort

Joseph John Rochefort was an American naval officer and cryptanalyst.

Joseph Rochefort was a major figure in the United States Navy's cryptographic and intelligence operations from 1925 to 1946, particularly in the Battle of Midway.

Joseph Rochefort was commissioned as an Ensign after a 14 June 1919 graduation from the US Navy's Steam Engineering School at Stevens Institute of Technology, and later in 1919, became engineering officer of the tanker USS Cuyama.

Joseph Rochefort then served a stint as second chief of the Division of Naval Communications' newly created cryptanalytic organization, OP-20-G, from 1926 to 1929.

Joseph Rochefort had a two-year intelligence assignment in the Eleventh Naval District, San Diego, from 1936 to 1938.

Joseph Rochefort's team was assigned to break the Japanese Navy's most secure cypher system, the Flag Officers Code, while Navy cryptographers at Station CAST and OP-20-G in Washington concentrated on the main fleet cipher, JN-25.

Joseph Rochefort often wore slippers and a bathrobe with his khaki uniform and sometimes went days without bathing.

Joseph Rochefort suggested using an unencrypted emergency warning in the hope of provoking a Japanese response, thus establishing whether Midway was a target.

Joseph Rochefort took the idea to Layton, who put it to Nimitz.

CDR John Redman complained to King about the operation of the Hawaii cryptologic station; as a result, Rochefort was reassigned from cryptanalysis to command the floating dry dock ABSD-2 at San Francisco.

The fact that Joseph Rochefort received no higher recognition at the time is considered by some to have been an outrage and an example of King's counterproductive personal vendettas.

Joseph Rochefort headed the Pacific Strategic Intelligence Group in Washington after the war.

Joseph Rochefort died in 1976 in Torrance, California, aged 76.