14 Facts About Laurance Safford

Laurance Frye Safford was a US Navy cryptologist.

Laurance Safford established the Naval cryptologic organization after World War I, and headed the effort more or less constantly until shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Laurance Safford secured an appointment to Annapolis, and graduated fifteenth in the class of 1916.

Laurance Safford was the first to begin organizing the worldwide Naval collection and direction finding effort, so that when the United States entered World War II it already had a system of intercept stations.

Laurance Safford himself was wrenched out of the job in 1926, returning in 1929.

Laurance Safford remained with the effort except for another sea tour from 1932 to 1936.

Laurance Safford himself was directly involved with building cryptographic machines, and collaborated with the Army's Frank Rowlett in the invention of the Sigaba, a cipher machine not known to be broken by any country during World War II.

Laurance Safford promoted collaboration with the Army on several fronts and was mostly responsible for the Navy entry into a joint effort with the Army on the Japanese diplomatic systems.

Laurance Safford recognized the signs of war that appeared in the diplomatic traffic, and he tried to get a warning message to Pearl Harbor several days before the attack but Director of Naval Communications Admiral Noyes rebuffed him.

Laurance Safford gave the chief Japanese naval code problem to the organization in Hawaii, and named Joseph Rochefort to head the effort.

Laurance Safford gave Rochefort a blank check to obtain the very best Navy cryptanalysts.

Laurance Safford was promoted to captain shortly after the United States entered the war, on January 1,1942.

Laurance Safford was sidelined for the remainder of the war, as ultimately was Rochefort.

Laurance Safford retired from active duty in 1953 and died in May 1973.