Military Time Conversion Charts
The fundamental means of measuring time is the rotation of the earth. The ultimate standard by which all clocks are regulated is furnished from observation of the stars and their relationship to the earth.
The primary unit of time is the "mean solar day." A mean solar day is the average of the "true solar day," which varies slightly in length. There are four times a year the mean and true solar days are equal, by contrast there are also days which time could vary as much as 16 or more minutes. The difference between a mean solar time and true solar time is called the "equation of time."
Whether telling the time via the direct observation of the stars or some other means, precision is important to the military. For the time precision required in navigating and the syncing of mission resources of today's armed forces, greater accuracy was needed. Enter, the atomic clock.
The extreme precision that is required for military time pieces is obtained via the use of the atomic clock. The Department of Defense's main clock that is used to standardize time for the military is located at the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.
Every meridian has its own mean solar time. In order to avoid continual changing of time as one travels east or west standard time zones are introduced. Each time zone is 15 degrees of longitude in width. The difference between adjoining zones is one hour.
Nautical time zones are used by the military to ensure a standardization of time for the forces. Standard military orders would be delivered in Zulu time. Zulu time is the same as "Greenwich Mean Time" or GMT. Depending on the ship or units location on the planet, it will determine the amount of offset required. For example, if orders were to launch a mission at 1000 Zulu and your ship was located near Tokyo in the "India" time zone, you would add nine hours to 1000 and know your time to launch would be 1900 local time (India).
Military Time Zones
| Nautical-Military Time Zones Chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone | Time Offset | Major City | |
| Alpha | GMT +1 | Paris, France | |
| Bravo | GMT +2 | Athens, Greece | |
| Charlie | GMT +3 | Moscow, Russia | |
| Delta | GMT +4 | Kabul, Afghanistan | |
| Echo | GMT +5 | New Delhi, India | |
| Foxtrot | GMT +6 | Dhaka, Bangladesh | |
| Golf | GMT +7 | Bangkok, Thailand | |
| Hotel | GMT +8 | Beijing, China | |
| India | GMT +9 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Kilo | GMT +10 | Sidney, Australia | |
| Lima | GMT +11 | Honiara, Solomon Islands | |
| Mike | GMT +12 | Wellington, New Zealand | |
| November | GMT -1 | Azores | |
| Oscar | GMT -2 | Godthaab, Greenland | |
| Papa | GMT -3 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | |
| Quebec | GMT -4 | Halifax, Nova Scotia | |
| Romeo | GMT -5 | New York, NY United States | |
| Sierra | GMT -6 | Dallas, TX United States | |
| Tango | GMT -7 | Denver, CO United States | |
| Uniform | GMT -8 | Los Angeles, CA United States | |
| Victor | GMT -9 | Juneau, AK United States | |
| Whiskey | GMT -10 | Honolulu, HI United States | |
| X-Ray | GMT -11 | Nome, AK United States | |
| Yankee | GMT -12 | Suva, Fiji | |
| Zulu | GMT | Greenwich, England | |
| |||
Military Time Conversion
| Military Time to Standard Time Conversion Chart | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Military Time | Standard Time | Military Time | Standard Time |
| 0000 | 12 AM | 1200 | 12 PM |
| 0100 | 1 AM | 1300 | 1 PM |
| 0200 | 2 AM | 1400 | 2 PM |
| 0300 | 3 AM | 1500 | 3 PM |
| 0400 | 4 AM | 1600 | 4 PM |
| 0500 | 5 AM | 1700 | 5 PM |
| 0600 | 6 AM | 1800 | 6 PM |
| 0700 | 7 AM | 1900 | 7 PM |
| 0800 | 8 AM | 2000 | 8 PM |
| 0900 | 9 AM | 2100 | 9 PM |
| 1000 | 10 AM | 2200 | 10 PM |
| 1100 | 11 AM | 2300 | 11 PM |
Reading The Messsage Traffic "Day Time Group"
When message traffic is sent, each message receives a Day Time Group (DTG). The DTG has the day, month, year and time the message is logged. For example, a message's DTG may say, 212200Z May 2013. Broken down, you know the message was logged on May 21, 2013 at 2200 Zulu time.
