East of Zulu, the zones are each 15 degrees wide and are alphabetically arranged, beginning with Alpha but skipping Juliet. Each zone is therefore one hour ahead of Zulu (so Tokyo in time-zone India is Zulu plus 9 hours). When we get to Mike, however, the zone is only 7.5 degrees wide, because the International Date Line intervenes.

Starting with November, the zones are arranged alphabetically to the west of Zulu. Each of these zones is one hour behind Zulu (so Washington in time-zone Romeo is Zulu minus five hours). This continues until we get to Yankee, which again is only 7.5 degrees wide because of the Date Line. The clock time in Mike and Yankee is of course the same, but Mike (Zulu plus 12) is one day ahead of Yankee (Zulu minus 12).

Note that during WWII, not all time zones were the same as today. However, the current map will serve for most purposes. When Little Boy exploded over Hiroshima, the local time was 8:15 a.m. on August 6. In London, the time was 11:15 p.m. the previous day, August 5. In Washington, the time was 6:15 p.m., also on August 5. Of course the zones are always on Standard Time: there is no Daylight Saving Time or War Time (Double Daylight) in the zones.

During WWII, Zulu was called Zone by the Allied military, and correspondence anywhere in the world was time-stamped as if it had been written at Greenwich, using the 24-hour clock (so the Hiroshima blast took place at 2315Z). Germany and Japan did not have to fight a global war, so they used the same clock time (based on Berlin and Tokyo, respectively) wherever their armies reached.

You might want to know what happened to time-zone Juliet. Well, if someone asks you the time and you tell them it's three o'clock, neither one of you cares what zone you're in. It's like the character in Buckaroo Banzai who pointed out: "Wherever you go, there you are!" The local time wherever you are is time-zone Juliet.