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Station HYPO


Station HYPO, also known as Fleet Radio Unit Pacific (FRUPAC) was the United States Navy signals monitoring and cryptographic intelligence unit in Hawaii during World War II. It was one of two major Allied signals intelligence units, called Fleet Radio Units in the Pacific theaters, along with FRUMEL in Melbourne, Australia. The station took its initial name from the phonetic code at the time for "H" for Heʻeia, Hawaii radio tower. The precise importance and role of HYPO has been the subject of considerable controversy, reflecting internal tensions amongst US Navy cryptographic stations.

HYPO was under the control of the OP-20-G Naval Intelligence section in Washington. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor of December 7, 1941, and for some time afterwards, HYPO was in the basement of the Old Administration Building at Pearl Harbor. Later on, a new building was constructed for the station, though it had been reorganized and renamed by then.

Cryptanalytic problems facing the United States in the Pacific prior to World War II were largely those related to Japan. An early decision by OP-20-G in Washington divided responsibilities for them among CAST at Cavite and then Corregidor, in the Philippines, HYPO in Hawaii, and OP-20-G itself in Washington. Other Navy crypto stations, including Guam and Bainbridge Island on Puget Sound were tasked and staffed for signals interception and traffic analysis.


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