# Navy time.  You there, Chief?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-time-you-there-chief/24819>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 7, 2000, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-time-you-there-chief/24819 "2000-07-07T03:43:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-time-you-there-chief/24819/1 "2000-07-07T03:43:04Z")

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Three bells. (Let’s call it 1330 hours.) Is it:

ding-ding, ding-ding, ding-ding;

or is it:

ding-ding, ding?

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-time-you-there-chief/24819/2 "2000-07-07T04:19:23Z")

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In the Merchant Marine it was ding-ding, ding. (Unless Pasquale was wheelsman that day, then it was di-ding, di-ding-ding, di-ding, ding, di-ding. Pat had a hard time letting go the bell cord.)

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**Author:** ![MinkMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minkman/32/19170_2.png) [@MinkMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinkMan)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-time-you-there-chief/24819/3 "2000-07-07T04:23:18Z")

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Three bells is just that, 3 bells:

ding-ding, ding.

For those who don’t know, on-board ship, every half-hour the Bos’n’s Mate of the Watch (BMOW) rings the ships bells to announce the time. He starts at midnight-thirty (0030, or 12:30 am) with one bell (a single ding), and adds an additional bell every half-hour until he is ringing eight bells (at 0400, 0800, 1200, 1600, and 2000). Then he starts over. This corresponds to the traditional 4 hour long watch stood by the crew.

MinkMan (an ex-squid)

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-time-you-there-chief/24819/4 "2000-07-07T11:43:47Z")

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Woohoo! I was right! Thanks for the answers! 🙂