Zulu (Zulu time)

Zulu (short for "Zulu time") is used in the military and in navigation generally as a term for Universal Coordinated Time (UCT), sometimes called Universal Time Coordinated ( UTC ) or Coordinated Universal Time (but abbreviated UTC), and formerly called Greenwich Mean Time. In military shorthand, the letter Z follows a time expressed in Greenwich Time. Greenwich Time, now called Universal Coordinated Time, is the time at longitude 0 degrees 0 minutes - the prime meridian or longitudinal line that separates East from West in the world geographical coordinate system. This line of longitude is based on the location of the British Naval Observatory in Greenwich, England, near London. "Zulu" is the radio transmission articulation for the letter Z.

Traditionally, ship and airplane navigation is conducted using Zulu time. Zulu time is usually expressed in terms of a 24-hour clock using the Gregorian calendar time divisions of hours and minutes.