If right now is....... right now. What time is it Zulu?

[Sparky Kronkite]

Greenich Time?

Why do they call Greenich Mean Time (is that all spelled right?) Zulu time? Where'd they get the Zulu from?

 

[ShyGuy68]

A little cut and paste from a US navy site

What is "Zulu" time?

"Zulu" time is that which you might know as "GMT" (Greenwich Mean Time). Our natural concept of time is linked to the rotation of the earth and we define the length of the day as the 24 hours it takes the earth to spin once on its axis.


As time pieces became more accurate and communication became global, there needed to be a point from which all other world times were based. Since Great Britain was the world's foremost maritime power when the concept of latitude and longitude came to be, the starting point for designating longitude was the "prime meridian" which is zero degrees and runs through the Royal Greenwich Observatory, in Greenwich, England, southeast of central London. As a result, when the concept of time zones was introduced, the "starting" point for calculating the different time zones was/is at the Royal Greenwich Observatory. When it is noon at the observatory, it is five hours earlier (under Standard Time) in Washington, D.C.; six hours earlier in Chicago; seven hours earlier in Denver; and, eight hours earlier in Los Angeles.


Unfortunately the Earth does not rotate at exactly a constant rate. Due to various scientific reasons and increased accuracy in measuring the earth's rotation, a new timescale, called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), has been adopted and replaces the term GMT.


The Navy, as well as civil aviation, uses the letter "Z" (phonetically "Zulu") to refer to the time at the prime meridian. The U.S. time zones are Eastern ["R", "Romeo]; Central ["S", "Sierra"]; Mountain ["T", "Tango"]; Pacific ["U", "Uniform"]; Alaska ["V", "Victor"], and Hawaii ["W", "William"].

 

[Sparky Kronkite]

Yeah but why not call it GMT?

Where the hell did the Zulu, the Z come from?

 

[scrymettet]

Re: Yeah but why not call it GMT?

Where the hell did the Zulu, the Z come from?

Zero

 

[Sparky Kronkite]

Yeah then........

Why didn't they just call it 'zero' time then?

Zulu? Makes no sence.

 

[phrodeau]

Re: Yeah then........

Why didn't they just call it 'zero' time then?

Zulu? Makes no sence.

The Navy, as well as civil aviation, uses the letter "Z" (phonetically "Zulu") to refer to the time at the prime meridian. The U.S. time zones are Eastern ["R", "Romeo]; Central ["S", "Sierra"]; Mountain ["T", "Tango"]; Pacific ["U", "Uniform"]; Alaska ["V", "Victor"], and Hawaii ["W", "William"].

The words that are assigned to letter codes in aviation are chosen to be distinctive, memorable and clear. The word "zero" refers exclusively to a number (0). The word "Zulu" can be identified as "Z" over an intercom, even if the first consonant gets cut off by a slow voice-activated switch.

 

[scrymettet]

Re: Yeah then........

Why didn't they just call it 'zero' time then?

Zulu? Makes no sence.

the numbers have to be cut on radio.
ie for 12:00
the correct radio is
one two zero zero. If you add the Z (zero) time. It's confusing :
one two zero zero zero.
That why z become Zulu

And why not GMT then ?
the letters have to be spelled
Goff Mike Tango. A bit too long

 

[p_p_man]

Re: Yeah then........

Why didn't they just call it 'zero' time then?

Zulu? Makes no sence.

It's the phonetic alphabet so...

foxtrot, uniform, charlie, kilo.

oscar, foxtrot, foxtrot...

 

[guser]

if now is now....

if now is now, then now will always be now wether in the future or in the past............now how about that ?