26 May – 4 June 1940

Operation Dynamo movements

This interactive research tool brings together the surviving ship-log extracts indexed by the Operation Dynamo Archive and plots each vessel at its best-known location during the evacuation. To our knowledge, it is the only published tool to combine this breadth of Little Ship and supporting vessel-log evidence in a time-based interactive map. Researchers can follow reconstructed voyages, compare ships operating in company, examine attempted crossings, and see where vessels were damaged, abandoned or lost.

The map is not an exhaustive list of every vessel associated with Operation Dynamo. It includes vessels for which the project currently holds a sufficiently usable movement or known-location record. Vessels whose reviewed Orde entry expressly states that they took no part in the operation, or gives an equivalent finding, are excluded.

Completed voyages are amber and unsuccessful attempts are red. Blue pins identify vessels for which a source names a location but does not provide enough evidence for a complete dated movement. Dark-red markers remain at documented loss positions after the vessel was lost. When the exact loss position is unknown, the vessel is included in the clickable red circle at Dunkirk; that circle is a visual index, not a claim that every listed vessel was lost there.

Loss positions follow an evidence hierarchy: an explicit latitude and longitude is used first, followed by a named buoy or light vessel, then a documented beach, harbour or destination. Historical buoy positions and reconstructed routes are approximate. Where a source records only that a vessel was lost, without sufficient supporting detail, no date or location is assigned. The map is a research finding aid and should be read alongside the linked source records.