What is 1200 in military time? In military time, 1200 refers to “twelve hundred hours.” Most people know this time as noon, lunchtime, or 12 PM.
If you’re planning to enlist or just want to familiarize yourself with various time-telling formats, read on and learn how to convert 12-hour standard time to any military time and vice versa.
Table of Contents
Easy 1200 Military Time Conversion
There are three things you must remember about military times:
1. Military time can have 3-digit or 4-digit numbers.
- Most military time formats use four-digit numbers, such as 1200. In this 12 noon military time example, the first two digits “12” are the hours, while the last two digits “00” are the minutes.
- Sometimes, military time uses just three-digit numbers, such as 100. In this example, “1” is the hour and “00” refers to minutes.
2. Converting from military time doesn’t require a military time clock calculator.
Identify if the hour is greater than 12. If it is, subtract 12 and append it with PM.
- If your military time is 1300, just subtract 12 from 13, and you’re left with 1. Add standard-time formatting to 1, and you’ll get 1:00 PM.
- If your military time to convert is less than 1200, just copy the hours and minutes before appending AM. For example, 1130 (Eleven-thirty hours) will simply become 11:30 AM.
3. It is easy to calculate military time from standard time.
There are three groups to remember:
- Any time between 1:00 am and 12:58 pm.
If the standard time is morning, such as 8:30 AM, simply remove the colon (0800 or Zero Eight-hundred hours) to turn it into military time.
- Any time between 12:59 pm and 11:59 pm.
If the standard time is evening, you have to remove the colon again, but this time, add 12 hours to the standard time.
For example, your standard time is 8:59 pm, you need to remove the colon first. Now that you have military format 0859, add 12 hours to the first two digits to make 2059 or Twenty-Fifty-Nine Hours.
- Any time between 12am (midnight) and 12:59 am.
If the standard time is betwee midnight and 12:59 AM, you must remove the color first, then subtract 12 to the first 2 digits.
For a standard time of 12:30am, you’ll get 1230 military time. The next step is to subtract 12 from the first two digitals (12), which gives you zero. Or 0030 (or zero, zero thirty hours) in military time.
Ways to Convert 1200 to Military Time
For visual learners who want to see 1200 hours military time on a chart without calculating, print this army time converter to help you memorize.
Take note of the hours starting from noon until 12:45 if you’re dealing with time that includes specific minutes.
| Regular Time AM/PM | 24-hour | Military Time |
| 12:00 a.m.
(midnight) |
00:00
24:00 |
0000, Zero-zero-zero-zero (Zero hundred hours)
2400, (Twenty-four hundred hours) |
| 1:00 a.m. | 01:00 | 0100 hours or Zero one hundred hours |
| 2:00 a.m. | 02:00 | 0200 hours or Zero two hundred hours |
| 3:00 a.m. | 03:00 | 0300 hours or Zero three hundred hours |
| 4:00 a.m. | 04:00 | 0400 hours or Zero four hundred hours |
| 5:00 a.m. | 05:00 | 0500 hours or Zero five hundred hours |
| 6:00 a.m. | 06:00 | 0600 hours or Zero six hundred hours |
| 7:00 a.m. | 07:00 | 0700 hours or Zero seven hundred hours |
| 8:00 a.m. | 08:00 | 0800 hours or Zero eight hundred hours |
| 9:00 a.m. | 09:00 | 0900 hours or Zero nine hundred hours |
| 10:00 a.m. | 10:00 | 1000 hours or Ten hundred hours |
| 11:00 a.m. | 11:00 | 1100 hours or Eleven hundred hours |
| 12:00 p.m. (noon) | 12:00 | 1200 Hours or Twelve hundred hours |
| 12:15 p.m. | 12:15 | 1215 Hours or Twelve fifteen hours |
| 12:30 p.m. | 12:30 | 1230 Hours or Twelve thirty hours |
| 12:45 p.m. | 12:45 | 1245 Hours or Twelve forty-five hours |
| 1:00 p.m. | 13:00 | 1300 hours or Thirteen hundred hours |
| 2:00 p.m. | 14:00 | 1400 hours or Fourteen hundred hours |
| 3:00 p.m. | 15:00 | 1500 hours or Fifteen hundred hours |
| 4:00 p.m. | 16:00 | 1600 hours or Sixteen hundred hours |
| 5:00 p.m. | 17:00 | 1700 hours or Seventeen hundred hours |
| 6:00 p.m. | 18:00 | 1800 hours or Eighteen hundred hours |
| 7:00 p.m. | 19:00 | 1900 hours or Nineteen hundred hours |
| 8:00 p.m. | 20:00 | 2000 hours or Twenty hundred hours |
| 9:00 p.m. | 21:00 | 2100 hours or Twenty-one hundred hours |
| 10:00 p.m. | 22:00 | 2200 hours or Twenty-two hundred hours |
| 11:00 p.m. | 23:00 | 2300 hours or Twenty-three hundred hours |
Where and Why is Army Time Used?
The history of military time dates back to the Early Egyptians (est 2100 BC).
Today, army time or military time is commonly used in the military, government, emergency services (ambulance, first responders, etc.), and public transportation (airlines, buses, train systems).
In private settings, military time is often used in scientific and medical organizations. You’ll see it when discussing precise times of calls, meetings, and incident reports.
Most organizations that use army time, military time, or the 24-hour clock operate at all hours of the day and night. They prefer this time system mainly to prevent possible confusion between a.m and p.m. hours.
Just imagine a doctor mistaking 4 am for 4 pm and arriving in time for a life-and-death surgery 12 hours late. Military time prevents scenarios like this that could be life-endangering or inconvenient.
Some non-English speaking countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America also use the 24-hour clock.
Is Military Time for 12 Midnight the Same as 1200?
Midnight and noon are some of the most confusing hours in military time. But this can change with practice.
12pm military time isn’t midnight in military time. In the 12-hour time, the AM and PM differentiate midnight from noon.
If you’re trying to write midnight instead, the proper military time used is either:
- zero hundred hours (0000) – used to describe opening hours, start of a work shift, and other details that denote the start of an activity.
- twenty-four hundred hours (2400). – refers to closing hours, end of a work shift, and other details that signify the end of an activity.
Once you understand the difference between 0000, 12000 and 2400, identifying the military time for noon would require little effort on your part.
Conclusion
Make it a habit to use military time to standard time alternatingly to be able to master these formats in no time.
Soon you won’t need to ask questions like what is 1200 in military time, or even use a calculator. Telling military time would be as natural as telling 12-hour standard time formats.
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