ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Japanese naval codes

Have you ever played a secret code game with your friends? The Japanese Navy also had a secret code game called codes or ciphers.

In the olden days, when people sent letters to each other they would write them on a piece of paper and then send them through a post office. But sometimes, the letter had a secret message that they didn't want anyone else to see. So they wrote the secret message in a code that only the person who it was meant for could understand.

Similarly, the Japanese Navy used codes to keep their messages secret during World War II. They didn't want the enemy to know what they were planning or saying, so they created different codes or ciphers.

The Japanese Navy codes were very complicated and difficult to crack. They used different symbols and numbers to represent different letters. For example, instead of writing the letter "A" they might use the number "1". It was a lot like a password that only certain people could understand.

The codes were so complicated that the American and British code breakers had a really hard time cracking them. These code breakers were like detectives who tried to figure out the secret messages. They spent a lot of time studying the Japanese codes, trying to figure out how they worked.

Eventually, the code breakers were able to crack some of the Japanese Navy codes and it helped the Allies win the war. It was a big secret mission that saved many lives and helped end the war faster.

In summary, the Japanese Navy used secret codes during World War II to keep their messages a secret. These secret codes were very complicated and difficult to understand. However, the code breakers were able to figure out some of the codes and it helped the Allied forces win the war.