 | |
| Department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1912 formal 1939 |
| Dissolved | 1965 |
| Superseding agency | |
| Jurisdiction | Government of the United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | Irton Moor, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, England |
| Parent Department | Admiralty |
The Admiralty Civilian Shore Wireless Service (ACSWS) was a radio service and network of wireless stations operated by the British Royal Navy based at Irton Moor, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England from 1939 to 1956. [1]
In 1912 the Royal Navy built Wireless Telegraphy Station at Scarborough, England in 1912. At the outbreak of World War I its main responsibilities was signals intelligence. After World War I it was primarily involved with monitoring diplomatic communications.
In 1932, a proposal was made to close Scarborough, and to transfer operations to Flowerdown, Hampshire; fortunately this decision was reversed and in 1935 our interception of the German Navy was restarted. At the beginning of August 1939, Y Service, the organisation responsible for intercepting enemy and neutral radio transmissions, were prepared for war. Scarborough intercepted German Naval and Naval Air communications, and controlled a Direction-Finding network. [2]
It was during this period that the civilians working in Sigint for the Admiralty became known as the Admiralty Civilian Shore Wireless Service (ACSWS), and the complement soon became a mix of both civilian and service personnel, augmented during the war years by members of the Women's Royal Naval Service. During May 1941, the station at Scarborough played a key role in the location and subsequent destruction of the German battleship Bismarck. The following is an extract from a review of ‘Y Work’, written by Lt. Cmdr. WR Rodger, Officer in Charge, Scarborough, 15 November 1945: [3]
Post World War II the Admiralty Civilian Shore Wireless Service role was monitor and collect communications of the Soviet Armed Forces a role it maintained through the cold war period. In 1965 the Admiralty Civilian Shore Wireless Service's role and functions was amalgamated within Government Communications Headquarters, (GCHQ) where it was renamed the Composite Signals Organisation the wireless station at Scarborough became CSOS Irton Moor. Now known as GCHQ Scarborough.
Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom. Based in "The Doughnut" in the suburbs of Cheltenham, GCHQ is the responsibility of the country's Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, but it is not a part of the Foreign Office and its Director ranks as a Permanent Secretary.
Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether communications between people or from electronic signals not directly used in communication. Signals intelligence is a subset of intelligence collection management. As sensitive information is often encrypted, signals intelligence in turn involves the use of cryptanalysis to decipher the messages. Traffic analysis—the study of who is signaling whom and in what quantity—is also used to integrate information again.
A radio listening station is a facility used for military reconnaissance, especially telecommunications reconnaissance by "intercepting" radio transmitter communications. In contrast to the original eavesdropping on an acoustic speech conversation, radio eavesdropping stations are used to eavesdrop on the information transmitted wirelessly using radio technology. For this purpose, highly sensitive radio receivers and suitable receiving antennas are used.
The Board of Admiralty was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requirements of the Royal Navy; at that point administrative control of the navy was still the responsibility of the Navy Board, established in 1546. This system remained in place until 1832, when the Board of Admiralty became the sole authority charged with both administrative and operational control of the navy when the Navy Board was abolished. The term Admiralty has become synonymous with the command and control of the Royal Navy, partly personified in the Board of Admiralty and in the Admiralty buildings in London from where operations were in large part directed. It existed until 1964 when the office of First Lord of the Admiralty was finally abolished and the functions of the Lords Commissioners were transferred to the new Admiralty Board and the tri-service Defence Council of the United Kingdom.
The Admiralty Mining Establishment originally known as the Mine Design Department was a technical department of the British Royal Navy responsible for both the design of naval mines and the development of suitable countermeasures from 1915 to 1951
SIGINT is a contraction of SIGnals INTelligence. Before the development of radar and other electronics techniques, signals intelligence and communications intelligence (COMINT) were essentially synonymous. Sir Francis Walsingham ran a postal interception bureau with some cryptanalytic capability during the reign of Elizabeth I, but the technology was only slightly less advanced than men with shotguns, during World War I, who jammed pigeon post communications and intercepted the messages carried.
The Diplomatic Wireless Service (DWS) was the name of the communications system set up for the British Foreign Office by Brigadier Richard Gambier-Parry, the first Foreign Office Director of Communications, in the latter part of 1945. It grew out of the Special Communication Units (SCU) which were responsible for communications for MI6 during the war. Its original base was at Whaddon Hall in Buckinghamshire, but it moved to Hanslope Park in the winter of 1946/47. Hanslope Park is still the HQ of its successor, Her Majesty's Government Communications Centre (HMGCC). The primary role of the DWS was communications between British embassies and the UK, but it also operated and maintained transmitters at home and abroad on behalf of the Foreign Office for the broadcasting of the European Service of the BBC and the BBC Overseas Service, which were combined as the BBC World Service in 1988.
GCHQ Scarborough is a satellite ground station located on Irton Moor, on the outskirts of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England, operated by the British signals intelligence service (GCHQ). It is believed to be the longest continuous serving site for signals intelligence in the world.
The Government of the United Kingdom maintains intelligence agencies within several different government departments. The agencies are responsible for collecting and producing foreign and domestic intelligence, providing military intelligence, performing espionage and counter-espionage. Their intelligence assessments contribute to the conduct of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom, maintaining the national security of the United Kingdom, military planning and law enforcement in the United Kingdom. The main organisations are the Secret Intelligence Service, the Security Service (MI5), the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Defence Intelligence (DI).
The Operations Division was a former Directorate of the Admiralty Naval Staff responsible for the creation and implementation of long-term policy in regards to the composition of all Royal Navy fleets, squadrons and commands and including operational planning and monitoring from 1912 to 1961.
The Anti-Submarine Division its original name, was the former anti-submarine warfare, planning and prevention Directorate of the Admiralty Department from 1912-1963.
The Air Division originally known as the Air Section and later known as the Naval Air Division was first established in 1924 and it was a Directorate of the Admiralty Naval Staff, that was initially responsible for operational control of aircraft supplied to the Royal Navy by the Air Ministry. In 1939 it was gained full control for the all matters relating to administration, control, policy and organisation of the Fleet Air Arm, it underwent various name changes until it was absorbed as part of the merger of the Admiralty into the new Ministry of Defence in April 1964 as part of the Navy Department where it continued until May 1966 when its remit was changed and when became the Directorate of Naval Warfare.
The Signal Division was a Directorate of the Admiralty Naval Staff responsible for policy, control and management of all naval communications from 1914 to 1964.
The Admiralty Signal and Radar Establishment (ASRE) originally known as the Experimental Department and later known as the Admiralty Signal Establishment (ASE) was a research organisation of the British Royal Navy established in 1917. It existed until 1959 when it was merged with the Admiralty Gunnery Establishment to form the Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment (ASWE). Its headquarters were located in Haslemere, Surrey, England.
The Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment (ASWE) and later known as the Admiralty Research Establishment (ARE) was a department of the British Admiralty and later Navy Department responsible for research and development, into the design and testing of devices, equipment, and techniques in-regard to naval communications, electronic counter-measures, radar missile control and other related fields it was based at Portsdown Hill, Hampshire, England from 1959 to 1984.
The 10th Cruiser Squadron, also known as Cruiser Force B was a formation of cruisers of the British Royal Navy from 1913 to 1917 and then again from 1940 to 1946.
The Architectural and Engineering Works Department was the main civil engineering department of the British Royal Navy responsible constructing, and maintaining naval buildings, dockyards, ports and managing civil engineering staff from 1837 to 1919 it was superseded by the Civil Engineer in Chief's Department.
The Admiralty Naval Aircraft Materials Laboratory was a research department of the British Royal Navy responsible for dealing with metallurgical and chemical problems affecting naval aircraft from 1949 to 1966.
British Naval Forces Germany was a command of the Royal Navy that was active from 1944 to 1961 under three titles.
The Admiralty Experimental Station was a research department of the British Admiralty set up in 1915. Initially its research centred round submarine detection methods. In 1921 its remit was expanded and it was renamed the Admiralty Research Laboratory.
This article incorporates text published under the British Open Government Licence : "A short history of Sigint in Scarborough | GCHQ Site". www.gchq.gov.uk. Government Communications Headquarters, UK, 2018. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
