# The Navy clock chiming system.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-navy-clock-chiming-system/381586>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 23, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-navy-clock-chiming-system/381586 "2006-11-23T22:07:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Nothing\_Special](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9f8e36/32.png) [@Nothing\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nothing_Special)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-navy-clock-chiming-system/381586/1 "2006-11-23T22:07:46Z")

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I have this old Navy Captain’s clock.

It chimes once at 12:30, twice at 1:00, thrice at 1:30, ond so on until it chimes 8 times at 4:00. Then it starts over at once for 4:30, twice for 5:00, and so on until it finally chimes eight times at 8:00, the only two times of the day that it actually chimes the hour.

How and why did this chiming system come about?

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-navy-clock-chiming-system/381586/2 "2006-11-23T22:12:55Z")

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Don’t they relate to the different times of [watches](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_%28shift%29) at sea?

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-navy-clock-chiming-system/381586/3 "2006-11-23T22:14:15Z")

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And a further link to [ship’s bells.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ships_bells)

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**Author:** ![intention](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e95f7d/32.png) [@intention](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/intention)\
**Post date:** [November 23, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-navy-clock-chiming-system/381586/4 "2006-11-23T23:25:43Z")

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My understanding, FWIW, is that on the old galleys, rowed either by slaves or free men, about a half hour’s rowing was all that a person was good for. At the end of that time, a bell was rung, indicating that the next group of unlucky wretches were due to take over.

As sail gradually replaced oars, the time that someone could stand watch increased, and so more bells were added. The current watch is generally 4 hours, or 8 bells.

w.