- The Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet is not a phonetic alphabet in the sense in which that term is used in phonetics, i.e., it is not a system for transcribing speech sounds. See the phonetic alphabet disambiguation page, and also International Phonetic Alphabet and SAMPA.
The Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet was developed in 1941 and was used by all branches of the United States military until the promulgation of the NATO phonetic alphabet in 1956, which replaced it. Before the JAN phonetic alphabet, each branch of the armed forces used its own phonetic alphabet, leading to difficulties in interbranch communication.
The Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet is as follows:
| Letter |
Phonetic |
Letter |
Phonetic |
Letter |
Phonetic |
| A |
Able |
M |
Mike |
Y |
Yoke |
| B |
Baker |
N |
Nutley |
Z |
Zebra |
| C |
Charlie |
O |
Oboe |
0 |
Zero |
| D |
Dog |
P |
Peter |
1 |
One |
| E |
Easy |
Q |
Queen |
2 |
Two |
| F |
Fox |
R |
Roger |
3 |
Three |
| G |
George |
S |
Sail |
4 |
Four |
| H |
How |
T |
Tare |
5 |
Five |
| I |
Item |
U |
Uncle |
6 |
Six |
| J |
Jig |
V |
Victor |
7 |
Seven |
| K |
King |
W |
William |
8 |
Eight |
| L |
Love |
X |
X-ray |
9 |
Niner |
External links
