Reading a boat's speed
A 60 mph speed is about 52.1 knots in marine terms.
Use mph to Knots
Converts miles per hour to knots in this tab, with nothing sent anywhere.
Runs entirely on your deviceThe conversion happens in this browser tab. Nothing you type is uploaded, logged or stored, which is worth knowing for anything you would not paste into a search box.
Sixty miles per hour is about 52.14 knots. A knot is one nautical mile per hour, so it belongs with marine and aviation distances; it is not shorthand for ordinary miles per hour.
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Browse all general convertersAbout mph to Knots
Miles per hour is how speed reads on a car dashboard in the US and UK, but boats and aircraft measure speed in knots - nautical miles per hour. Converting mph to knots is what a sailor, pilot or forecaster does to put a land speed into marine and aviation terms. One mph is about 0.869 knots, so a speed in knots is always a little lower than the same speed in mph. Knots exist because a nautical mile is tied to the Earth's geometry - one minute of latitude - which makes navigation by chart and sextant clean in a way statute miles never were. That is why boats, planes and marine weather have kept knots while the land moved to mph and km/h. Wind speeds in a marine forecast, a boat's cruising speed, and an aircraft's airspeed are all quoted in knots, so anyone moving between a land context and a sea or air one converts regularly. A knot is roughly 1.15 mph, which is worth remembering when a forecast in knots has to be judged against road-speed intuition. Navigation uses nautical miles per hour, so a statute-mile speed must be converted before comparing it with a knot reading.
Using mph to Knots
- Type a number of mph. You can paste a value with its unit; the tool reads the number.
- The exact factor is applied and the result is shown as kn, updating live as you type.
- Copy the answer, or switch to the reverse converter to go from kn back to mph.
Where mph to knots helps
Both directions
Need the opposite? The kn-to-mph converter is linked below and uses the exact inverse factor.
Use nautical miles for the matching distance
A speed of 10 mph is about 8.69 knots. Travelling for an hour at that constant speed covers about 8.69 nautical miles, not 8.69 ordinary miles. This relationship is useful when checking a map or instrument that reports nautical units. Wind, current and changes in speed remain separate inputs to an actual journey estimate.
Before you use the result
- The result is rounded for readability; the underlying factor is exact, so a value converted and back may differ in the last decimal place.
- Units in your input are ignored - only the number is read - so make sure the figure you type is really in mph.
Questions about mph to Knots
Is a knot the same as mph?
No - a knot is one nautical mile per hour, about 1.15 mph. So 10 knots is roughly 11.5 mph, and 60 mph is about 52 knots.
Is my data uploaded?
No. mph to Knots does the arithmetic in this browser tab; the value is calculated on your device and is not sent to a server.
Related tools
Knots to mph
Convert knots to mph instantly in your browser. Exact factor, both directions, nothing uploaded.