Station HYPO

CLASS WIZARD: Letter of congratulations from President Ronald Reagan to the members of the Naval Security Group Command via RADM McFarland, Commander Naval Security Group.  

Classic Wizard was a tactical ocean, surveillance information processing and reporting system operated by the Naval Security Group Command (NSG) starting in 1976 and continuing for more than two decades. Elements of the NSG operated five classic wizard regional reporting centers (RRC) including the northern Pacific RRC at the Naval Security Group Activity Adak Alaska; the Atlantic RRC at the Naval Security Group Winter Harbor, Maine; the European RRC at the Naval Security Group Activity Edzell Scotland the Western Pacific RRC at the Naval Communications Area Master Station Pacific located on the island of Guam in the Marina‘s Islands; and the Indian Ocean RRC at the Naval Communications Station (later, Naval Computer and Telecommunication Station) Diego Garcia, located on the island of Diego Garcia Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. Chief of Naval Operations established and promulgated policy concerning direct reporting by RRC‘s to the U.S. Navy commands afloat and assure and authorize direct reporting tasking from Commander U.S. Pacific Fleet (Adak, Guam, Diego); Commander U.S. Atlantic fleet (Winter Harbor);  and Commander U. S. Naval Forces  Europe ( Edzell).

The signal success of the Oxford [redacted] during the Cuban Missile Crisis resulted in a boom in the Technical Research Ship (TRS) program. NSA’s long-term TRS program included [redacted].  Military Sea Transport Service (MSTS) charters and five of the larger Oxford-class Liberty ships. The Navy had an even more grandiose plan to build a TRS fleet from the keel up, at a cost of $35 million per vessel. They would have a cruising speed of at least twenty knots. But despite the giddy success of the Oxford, the numbers did not add up. For instance, it cost $13.5 million to convert a Liberty ship into an Oxford-class vessel, but only $3.3 million to redo a Valdez class MSTS ship. DoD was strapped for cash for the Vietnam buildup, and this kind of floating SIGINT platform, logical in theory, fell victim to the budget axe.

President Johnson … expressed concerns over the number of aircraft being lost on Rolling Thunder missions. Between January and September 1966, a total of228 fixed-wing combat and support aircraft had been lost during missions against North Vietnam. The question in Washington was, did the enemy have prior warning of U.S. raids against North Vietnam? …  The answer was yes, they did.

Stephen J. Kelley in PURPLE DRAGON: The Origin and Development of the United States OPSEC Program

On this day May 4, 1942, Captain Ranson “Fullie” Fullenwider would lead the FRUPAC Radio Intelligence Unit RIU on the aircraft carrier USS LEXINGTON CV-2 during the Battle of the Coral Sea. He and his team would escape injury when the LEXINGTON was attacked and the ship had to be abandoned. Two months later at the Battle of Midway he would also be leading the RUI team on the USS YORKTOWN CV-5 and would be among the last to leave the burning YORKTOWN with ADM Fletcher..

Photo credit – NCVA

May 4, 1942, 29 Navajos reported to Fort Defiance, Arizona, the first of roughly 400 to be trained as code talkers. Make sure to check the links at the end of the page for more articles about the Code Talkers.