In the Navy: Alan Turing and Harvey Milk’s Naval Connections

Both Harvey and Alan have deep roots with the Navy.

1. Little Alan in the photo above is forced to wear uncomfortable sailor clothing.
2. Alan’s parents met on a ship.
3. Both of Harvey’s parents were in the Navy.
4. Harvey served in the Navy during the Korean war and was also a diving instructor. Every day he wore his special double dolphin Navy brass buckle.
5. Alan Turing’s greatest codebreaking feat was cracking the Naval Enigma. It was complicated by eventually requiring 4 out of a possible 8 rotors and could only be fully cracked with the possession of special bigram tables, sets of random letters that were added to the encode message indicators.
6. Alan loved sailing and traveled by boat several times to the US.
7. The Muppet Show’s version of The Village People’s In the Navy aired in  September/October 1980 and features Viking Pigs. Alan was of Danish/Scandanavian ancestry on both sides and learned both Norwegian and Danish.
8.  During World War II there were special U-Boats known as Milch-Cows  that serviced other U-boats by supplying them with fuel, ammunition, etc. Harvey’s last name was originally Milch and that was also considered as his true surname by Harvey. Harvey also owned a special cow figurine named Milky.
10. READ MORE ABOUT ALAN
11. How Alan Would Like to Be Remembered: (Hint: Gay yes, Martyr no!)
12. Autistically Awesome Alan Turing
13. Mathematical Knitting with Alan
14. Alan’s Sponge Cake