Nautical mile

A nautical mile or sea mile is a unit of length. It corresponds approximately to one minute of latitude along any meridian. It is a non-SI unit used especially by navigators in the shipping and aviation industries. For aviation use, the preferred abbreviation of the ICAO is NM.

Conversions to other units

One nautical mile converts to:

• 1,852 metres (exact)
• 1.150779 mile (statute) (exact: 57,875/50,292 miles)
• 2,025.372 yards (exact: 2,315,000/1,143 yards)
• 6,076.1155 feet (exact: 2,315,000/381 feet)
• 1,012.6859 fathoms (exact: 1,157,500/1,143 fathoms)
• 10 common-definition cables (exact, as one common definition of "cable")
• 10.126859 "ordinary" (100-fathom) cables (exact: 11,575/1,143 ordinary cables)
• 12.152231 US Navy (120-fathom) cables (exact: 9,260/762 US Navy cables)
• 0.998383 equatorial arc minutes = traditional geographical miles (approx.)
• 0.9998834 mean meridian arc minutes = mean historical nautical miles (approx.)