1500 at a glance
- 12-hour time
- 3:00 PM
- 24-hour clock
- 15:00
- Say it
- fifteen hundred hours
- Part of day
- Afternoon
- Minutes after midnight
- 900
- Minutes until midnight
- 540
- Decimal hours
- 15.00
- Share of the day gone
- 62.5%
How to convert 1500 to standard time
- The hour digits are 15, which is past noon. Subtract 12 from the hour: 15 − 12 = 3.
- Keep the minutes (00), insert a colon and add PM: 3:00 PM.
How to say 1500
| Style | How it sounds |
|---|---|
| Military (spoken) | “fifteen hundred hours” |
| Short form | “fifteen hundred” |
| Radio, digit by digit | “one five zero zero” |
| Civilian | “three o’clock in the afternoon” |
| Written 24-hour | 15:00 or 1500 |
On the hour, the minutes are spoken as “hundred”: 1500 is “fifteen hundred hours.”
1500 Zulu (UTC) in US time zones
Military and aviation schedules give times in Zulu — Coordinated Universal Time — so that everyone works from one clock. When a message says 1500Z, this is the local time across the United States:
| Time zone | Standard time | Daylight time |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern (EST / EDT) | 10:00 AM — R | 11:00 AM — Q |
| Central (CST / CDT) | 9:00 AM — S | 10:00 AM — R |
| Mountain (MST / MDT) | 8:00 AM — T | 9:00 AM — S |
| Pacific (PST / PDT) | 7:00 AM — U | 8:00 AM — T |
| Alaska (AKST / AKDT) | 6:00 AM — V | 7:00 AM — U |
| Hawaii (HST) | 5:00 AM — W | No daylight time |
The letter after each time is that zone’s military time-zone letter: Eastern standard time is R (Romeo, UTC−5), so 1500Z is 1000R. Daylight time runs from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November; Hawaii and most of Arizona stay on standard time all year.
If 1500 is your local time
- 1500 Eastern is 2000Z in winter (EST) and 1900Z in summer (EDT).
- 1500 Central is 2100Z in winter (CST) and 2000Z in summer (CDT).
- 1500 Mountain is 2200Z in winter (MST) and 2100Z in summer (MDT).
- 1500 Pacific is 2300Z in winter (PST) and 2200Z in summer (PDT).
Times around 1500
| Change | Military | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| −60 min | 1400 | 2:00 PM |
| −45 min | 1415 | 2:15 PM |
| −30 min | 1430 | 2:30 PM |
| −15 min | 1445 | 2:45 PM |
| This time | 1500 | 3:00 PM |
| +15 min | 1515 | 3:15 PM |
| +30 min | 1530 | 3:30 PM |
| +45 min | 1545 | 3:45 PM |
| +60 min | 1600 | 4:00 PM |
Shifts that start at 1500
- An 8-hour shift starting at 1500 ends at 2300 (11:00 PM).
- A 10-hour shift starting at 1500 ends at 0100 (1:00 AM the next day).
- A 12-hour shift starting at 1500 ends at 0300 (3:00 AM the next day).
- To total the hours on a real time card with breaks, use the time card calculator.
1500 in everyday use
- From 1300 on, the hour digits run past 12. A quick trick for 1300 to 1959 is to take 2 away from the second digit: 15 → 3, so 1500 is 3:00 PM.
- The classic misreading is to drop the leading 1 and read 1500 as 5:00 — that would put the time two hours late.
Frequently asked questions
What is 1500 in regular time?
1500 is 3:00 PM in regular 12-hour time. Subtract 12 from the hour (15 − 12 = 3) and add PM.
Is 1500 AM or PM?
1500 is PM. Military times from 0000 to 1159 are AM and times from 1200 to 2359 are PM.
How do you say 1500 in military time?
Say “fifteen hundred hours.” In radio procedure each digit is spoken separately, so 1500 can also be read digit by digit.
What is 1500 Zulu in Eastern time?
1500Z is 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (UTC−5) and 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4).