A SET of cogs from a Second World War Enigma encryption machine has been discovered after languishing in a cupboard for up to 30 years.
The three rotors were found at the Royal Navy training establishment HMS Collingwood in Fareham, Hampshire.
At first, Chief Petty Officer Craig Read and Petty Officer Dan Powditch thought they were imitations and put them back into the store in the old HMS Mercury building, only to re-examine them several weeks later.
It is now believed the items were spares for an Enigma machine which used to be kept at the centre and which was donated to the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) at Portsmouth in 1983.
Now the box of three rotors is to be reunited... read more