The nautical mile is a unit for measuring distance at sea. According to international agreements, a nautical mile is exactly 1.852 kilometers or 1.1508 miles long. The nautical mile is a widely used unit of measurement for ship speeds, distances in shipping and nautical charts. Mariners indicate the ship’s speed in knots per nautical mile (knots per hour). For example, if the speed of a ship is 10 knots, this means that the ship is traveling 10 nautical miles per hour.
What is a nautical mile and how is it calculated?
The nautical mile is recognized worldwide as the standard unit in maritime navigation and is used to determine navigation plans, routes and distances of ships. It is also the unit of distance used in nautical charts and navigation systems. For this reason, it is important that seafarers and all those working in the maritime sector understand and use the concept of the nautical mile well.
Calculation of the nautical mile
The nautical mile is an internationally recognized standard unit and is exactly 1.852 kilometers or 1.1508 miles long. Therefore, we can use this ratio to convert a given distance in kilometers to nautical miles to calculate the nautical miles.
For example, let’s assume that a distance in kilometers is 100. We can use the following formula to convert this distance into nautical miles:
Nautical mile=1.852 kilometers
So a distance of 100 kilometers corresponds to how many nautical miles?
Nautical mile=1.852100≈53.995
This means that a distance of 100 kilometers corresponds to about 54 nautical miles.
In the same way, we can reverse the ratio to convert nautical miles to kilometers:
kilometers=nautical mile×1.852
You can use this formula to convert a certain number of nautical miles to kilometers. For example, to calculate how many kilometers correspond to 50 nautical miles:
Kilometre=50×1.852=92.6
Therefore, you can say that 50 nautical miles correspond to approximately 92.6 kilometers.
