What is Zulu Time?

Zulu Time is used to refer to the current time in Greenwich, England.
To avoid confusion about time zones and daylight saving time, a Global Time was created.
This Global time has many names. It used to be called GMT. Now its called UTC, Zulu Time or Z Time!

Long Answer (Long But Really Easy!)

Zulu Time is the current time in Greenwich, England. England was the “King of the Sea” in the 18th and 19th Century. In those days, almost three-quarters of the ships on the sea were using the time in Greenwich, England.

To create Time Zones – you need to start someplace! That someplace, the starting point for time, is called ‘Prime Meridian’. Till the 19th century, every city or country created its own starting point. When it was 8:15 in one city, it was 8:30 in the next one. With the advance of railways and the telegraph, it became urgent to create an International Starting Point – a ‘Prime Meridian’ so Time would be divided in the same 24 segments around the planet. So when it’s 8:00 in one city, it stays 8:00 in the next city too, till you arrive to the 9:00 Time Zone (No city’s in between are 8:15, 8:20 or 8:25). In 1884, 25 Nations met in Washington to decided which Prime Meridian would be used by the entire world. Britain was in the strongest position, since most ships were already using their Prime Meridian, as well as the US railways.

Besides a Starting Point, they also needed an Ending Point: an International Date Line where the calendar will move to the next date. The end point – the International Date Line cannot cross heavy populated cities, otherwise, you will receive your mail a day before it was sent. The conference participants tried not to divide countries down the middle.

Greenwich, England was the favorite here too, since it’s end would be just around Alaska, and all the way down the Pacific Ocean.

The decision was put to a vote. France and Brazil abstained. San Domingo was the only vote against. Greenwich won by 22 to 1!

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is now called Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) and is also commonly known as Zulu Time.

EST = Eastern Standard Time is 5 hours behind Zulu 
CST = Central Standard Time is 6 hours behind Zulu 
MST = Mountain Standard Time is 7 hours behind Zulu
PST = Pacific Standard Time is 8 hours behind Zulu

military TIME converter (ARMY TIME converter)

Convert Military Time using our easy Military Time Calculator

how to read military time

► Use “hundred” instead of “thousand” (2000 is Twenty Hundred Hours)

►When possible, read two digits at a time (2015 is Twenty Fifteen Hours)

Examples and chart on how to read military time