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SATYR   CXDA
Hagelin C-38 analog · 1944 - this page is a stub

SATYR (codename), also known as AFSAF-102 or CXDA, was an electrical analog of a Hagelin cipher machine known variously as C-38, CSP-1500 or M-209. It was developed by the US Navy and was used for enciphering and deciphering traffic, and for various cryptanalytic processes, such as testing the settings suggested by HECATE, WARLOCK I and other analytic machines [1].

The first SATYR with serial number '1', was built by the National Cash Register (NCR) in Dayton (Ohio, US) in cooperation with the US Navy, and entered service in late 1944, soon followed by four smaller models. SATYR is comparable to the US Army's ELECTRICAL HAGELIN ANALOG C-38, but is somewhat slower as it uses actual Hagelin pin-wheels instead of electrical relays [1].

Poor quality photograph of SATYR, extracted from [1]
SATYR with integrated modified Hagelin C-38

The image above shows an actual SATYR device with a standard input/output station placed in front of it. At the centre is an electric typewriter of which the keyboard was used for entering the text. Note the integrated modified Hagelin cipher machine, just above the typwriter's carriage.

Each machine consists of the following components:

  1. 22 switches with 26-points each, 6 for kick, 15 for overlap and 1 for slide
  2. Converted set of Hagelin wheels
  3. Keyboard for input
  4. 8 x 20 plugboard to make input and output pluggable
In total, no more than five machines were built. By 1953, the first machine (with serial number '1') had been dismantled, but the others remained in service. Three machines were located at the Naval Security Station in Washington DC, two of which were in Room 20103 where the HECATE equipment was also located. The 5th machine was located at USNCML in St. Paul (Minesota, US). 1

  1. USNCML was originally located at the NCR factory in Dayton (Ohio, US), but was moved to St. Paul (Minesota, US) in 1946, shortly after the new company Engineering Research Associates (ERA) had been established there. ERA was founded by former OP-20-G engineers and incorporated much of the old Naval code­breaking division known as the Communications Supplementary Activity - Washington (CSAW).

Documentation
  1. Operational and Maintenance Procedure for SATYR
    NARA NR 1534 CBKH55 24858A. US Navy, February 1945. - WANTED
References
  1. LeRoy H. Wheatley, Cryptanalytic Machines in NSA
    NSA, 30 May 1953. TOP SECRET CANOE. 1 PDF page 122.

  2. Colin B. Burke, It Wasn't All Magic: The early Struggle to Automate Cryptanalysis
    1930s - 1960s. NSA, Center for Cryptologic History, 2002. pp. 141, 159. 1,2
  1. Partly declassified by NSA persuant to Executive Order 13526 (24 January 2014 — 16 June 2014).
  2. This document contains many scanning errors and distorted images.

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