Privacy Policy, Terms of Use and Content Concerns Procedure
Last updated: 2 July 2026 · Version 2026-07-02
This combined notice explains how OperationDynamo.navy (“Operation Dynamo Archive”, “we”, “us”) operates this historical research website, the terms on which it may be used, how personal information is handled, and how to raise a privacy, accuracy, rights or removal concern.
Our Contact Us form is the contact point for general enquiries, data-protection requests and content concerns.
1. Operator and scope
OperationDynamo.navy is a digital historical archive concerning Operation Dynamo, the Dunkirk evacuation, associated ships, service personnel, civilians, honours and source documents. This notice applies to this website, registered user accounts, newsletter subscriptions, contact messages and requests concerning indexed archive content.
For UK data-protection purposes, OperationDynamo.navy determines the purposes and means of the processing described here and acts as the controller. Questions should be sent to the contact address above.
2. Website terms of use
By using the website, you agree to use it lawfully and responsibly. You must not:
- attempt to bypass authentication, access controls, rate limits or technical restrictions;
- scrape, harvest or systematically extract records in a way that burdens the service or creates an unauthorised competing dataset;
- introduce malware, probe vulnerabilities, disrupt availability or interfere with another user;
- misrepresent archive material, remove provenance, or imply our endorsement;
- use personal information obtained from the archive to harass, discriminate against, identify or cause harm to any living person;
- submit unlawful, defamatory, threatening, misleading or infringing material.
We may restrict or suspend access, preserve relevant evidence and report suspected unlawful activity where reasonably necessary to protect the archive, its users or others.
Questions specifically about these Terms and Conditions should be submitted through the Contact Us form using the “Terms and Conditions” category.
Accounts
Registration may be opened or closed at our discretion. You are responsible for accurate account information, protecting your credentials and notifying us of suspected unauthorised access. Accounts may be suspended for misuse, security reasons or breach of these terms.
Intellectual property and permitted use
The website design, database selection and arrangement, original commentary, transcriptions and software may be protected by copyright and database rights. Underlying historical documents and images may have separate owners, custodians, licences or usage restrictions. Inclusion does not mean that material is free of rights.
You may view the site and make limited extracts for personal study, private research, criticism, review or other uses permitted by law. Reproduction, republication, commercial exploitation, bulk redistribution or machine-learning ingestion requires permission unless a legal exception clearly applies. Source and archive references should be retained.
Default restriction on reuse of displayed images
Unless an item-specific rights statement or open licence expressly permits broader reuse, our permission to access images displayed through this website is limited to personal study, classroom teaching and bona fide academic or historical research conducted on a non-commercial basis. Commercial publication, advertising, merchandise, paid media, licensing, resale, redistribution or other commercial exploitation is not authorised by OperationDynamo.navy and requires any permission necessary from the relevant copyright holder.
The archive, library or institution holding a physical or digital record is not necessarily its copyright holder and may not be able to grant copyright permission. Before reproducing an image, users must check the item-specific credit, catalogue reference, rights statement, contractual conditions and applicable licence; identify the actual rights holder where required; and obtain permission directly from the person or body entitled to grant it.
This default website restriction does not remove rights that a user obtains independently under an item-specific open licence, public-domain status or a statutory copyright exception. For example, material expressly available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 remains governed by that licence, including its attribution conditions and exclusions.
Copyright status and rights-holder notifications
We make reasonable, good-faith efforts to investigate the copyright status and provenance of material displayed on the website, identify and credit rights holders where known, obtain permission or a suitable licence where required, and use material only where we reasonably believe that publication is authorised or otherwise permitted by law. Historical collections can contain incomplete, conflicting or unavailable rights information, so an attribution, licence or rights assessment may occasionally be incomplete or incorrect.
If you believe that material on this website infringes copyright or has been used under an incorrect rights statement, please use our Contact Us form. Please provide the exact page URL, identification of the work concerned, the basis of your claim, your contact details, evidence that you own the relevant rights or are authorised to act for the owner, and the correction or other outcome requested.
We will assess a sufficiently detailed notice under the review procedure in section 8. While a claim is investigated, we may request further evidence or temporarily restrict access where proportionate. Depending on the evidence and applicable law, an outcome may include corrected attribution or rights information, confirmation or amendment of a licence, replacement of an image, restricted access, removal, or no change. Receipt or investigation of a notice is not an admission of infringement or liability and does not waive any legal right, defence or exception.
Lt Col G. P. Orde index
The searchable material described on this website as Lt Col G. P. Orde’s List or the Orde index is an independently compiled research and discovery aid. It aggregates factual references drawn from relevant records and includes limited transcriptions made for identification, indexing, search and source-location purposes. The website does not publish or purport to reproduce the complete underlying Orde document.
The underlying work is Dunkirk Withdrawal: Operation Dynamo, May 26–June 4, 1940: Alphabetical List of Vessels Taking Part, With Their Services. Orde compiled it soon after the evacuation from official and private reports, government and Admiralty papers, French Admiralty information and interviews. It is organised mainly by vessel and records identifying details, operational accounts, information sources and crew honours, with cross-references and notes where evidence conflicted. It is an important historical source rather than an infallible modern register: possible omissions remain, and some vessels have marginal or doubtful connections.
OperationDynamo.navy does not claim ownership of copyright in the underlying source document, and inclusion of an indexed fact, reference or transcription does not imply a licence, assignment, approval or endorsement from its author, archive, custodian or rights holder. Copyright and related rights remain with their respective owners. Anyone with substantiated rights information or a concern about a particular transcription should use the Contact Us form and identify the exact entry concerned.
The National Archives reading-room photographs - limited scope
A defined subset of images used in this project consists of photographs personally taken by the site operator of Dunkirk-related records consulted in the reading rooms at The National Archives (“TNA”). This subset includes the relevant page photographs displayed from the Small Craft Service List and The Red Book / Red List, 1939–40. In written correspondence dated 3 July 2025, TNA confirmed that it waived reproduction fees for the non-commercial use of those personally taken photographs.
That confirmation expressly states that it is not a copyright licence. Our basis for publishing an image within this defined subset therefore depends on both: (a) the reproduction-fee waiver for non-commercial use; and (b) our reasonable assessment that the particular information is available for the particular use under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (“OGL”), or that another lawful permission, exception or basis applies.
Where the OGL applies, our attribution is: Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source catalogue references should also be retained where displayed. The material is used without suggesting official status, approval or endorsement by TNA or any government body.
This position is deliberately source-specific. It applies only to qualifying photographs personally taken in TNA reading rooms and identified in our records as belonging to that subset. It does not create a blanket licence for every item held by TNA, every Dunkirk-related document, the complete Orde document, material obtained from another archive or website, images supplied by another person, commercial reuse, or any other collection indexed on OperationDynamo.navy.
The OGL does not cover personal data, third-party rights that the information provider is not authorised to license, or certain other excluded material. Those matters require a separate rights and privacy assessment and, where necessary, permission from the relevant rights holder. Each of our other archive sources is assessed under its own copyright status, licence, permission, statutory exception and contractual terms; the TNA fee waiver must not be relied upon for them.
Lloyd’s Yacht Register, 1939 - Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage Centre
Images, catalogue information and related material from the Lloyd’s Yacht Register, 1939 that originate from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage Centre remain proprietary to the Lloyd’s Register Foundation and/or its licensors, who reserve copyright, database right and other intellectual property rights. OperationDynamo.navy does not claim ownership of those underlying materials and does not grant any independent or commercial licence to them.
The Foundation makes Heritage Centre information available under its Educational Licence solely for qualifying education and research purposes. Among other requirements, users must not modify source documents or related graphics, use graphics separately from their accompanying text, remove copyright or other notices, or omit the required acknowledgement of Lloyd’s Register Foundation and its Heritage Centre website. Material incorporated into research must be clearly identified as subject to that Educational Licence. The licence also contains further conditions concerning publication, disclosure of research findings, exclusions, warranties and permitted users.
Anyone viewing or reusing this material must read and comply with the Foundation’s current Terms of Use and Educational and research licensing terms. Use outside the licence, including commercial research, commercial publication or other commercial exploitation, requires a separate licence or permission from the Foundation and/or the relevant rights holder. OperationDynamo.navy cannot grant that permission.
Other Records and future indexed collections
“Other Records” is a discovery category rather than a single rights source. Records within it, and any collection added later, may be held by different archives and may be governed by different copyright owners, database rights, licences, permissions, access agreements and statutory exceptions. Inclusion in our search index, transcription of a factual reference, display of metadata, or a link to a source does not transfer ownership or imply that the underlying document or image is free to reproduce.
The item-specific source credit, catalogue reference and rights statement take precedence over any general collection description on this website. Where no clear reuse permission is displayed, users must treat the material as protected, restrict use to viewing and legitimate non-commercial study, and obtain any permission required from the actual rights holder before reproducing, publishing, redistributing, adapting or commercially exploiting it.
3. Historical archive material
Errors, omissions and non-reliance
Records may be derived from wartime documents, official lists, registers, OCR, catalogues, later research and third-party sources. The website and its indexes may contain errors, omissions, missing records, incomplete information, historical misspellings, incorrect dates, mistaken identities, duplicate or mismatched entries, OCR errors, transcription mistakes, translation errors, inconsistent terminology and conflicting accounts. A record’s absence from an index does not establish that a person, vessel, event or document did not exist or take part.
Search results, OCR text, transcriptions, summaries, charts, counts, database matches and catalogue descriptions are research aids only. They are not certified, exhaustive or authoritative records and must not be relied upon as accurate or complete. Wherever possible, users should inspect the associated page image and verify the information against the original record, the holding archive and other independent primary sources.
A person’s or vessel’s inclusion does not imply endorsement, wrongdoing or a complete account. Dates, ranks, names, awards, service details and source matches may be corrected or revised as evidence is reviewed. Users must not rely on this website as the sole basis for publication, attribution, legal or administrative proceedings, genealogy, eligibility or entitlement decisions, financial decisions, safety-critical work, or any other consequential purpose. Anyone proposing such use is responsible for obtaining appropriate archival verification and professional advice.
If you identify a possible omission or mistake, please use the Contact Us form and provide the page URL, the disputed text and supporting source evidence. We may correct, annotate or retain the entry after reviewing the available evidence; reporting a concern does not guarantee a particular amendment or removal.
4. Personal information we process
| Information | Purpose | Lawful basis | Typical retention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account name, email, password hash and verification records | Create, secure and administer accounts | Contract and legitimate interests in service security | Account lifetime, then ordinarily up to 90 days except necessary security records |
| Newsletter email and subscription date | Send archive news and registration updates | Consent | Until consent is withdrawn, the address is invalid, or the list is retired |
| Contact name, email, subject, message and delivery status | Receive, answer and audit enquiries and concerns | Legitimate interests; legal obligation where the message exercises a legal right | Ordinarily 24 months after the matter closes; longer where needed for legal claims or an active dispute |
| Archive search terms, search date, results count and account identifier when signed in | Operate and improve search, identify missing records or common research needs, diagnose faults and prevent misuse | Legitimate interests in archive improvement, service operation and security | Ordinarily up to 12 months; longer where required to investigate a security incident or legal claim |
| Session identifier, pages viewed, route, page or record type, resource identifier, query string and account identifier when signed in | Understand use of ship, people and other archive records; maintain session-level audit trails; improve navigation; diagnose faults and prevent misuse | Legitimate interests in archive improvement, service operation, auditing and security | Ordinarily up to 12 months; longer where required to investigate a security incident or legal claim |
| IP address, request data, cookies and technical logs | Security, fraud prevention, diagnostics and service operation | Legitimate interests | Ordinarily up to 90 days unless an incident requires longer preservation |
| Historical names, service details, images and source references | Historical research, indexing, preservation, education and public understanding | Legitimate interests and, where applicable, archiving or historical-research provisions | Retained as part of the enduring archive, subject to periodic relevance and safeguards review |
Sources and recipients
Information may come directly from you, public records, archives, published registers, document custodians, researchers or other credited sources. It may be handled by authorised administrators and service providers supporting hosting, email, security and maintenance. We may disclose information where required by law, to protect legal rights or safety, or in connection with a lawful organisational transfer.
We do not sell personal information. We do not use solely automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.
Search submissions are recorded in our database, including searches returning no results. Search logs are associated with an account only when the searcher is signed in. Please do not enter unnecessary sensitive or confidential personal information into the search box.
Successful website page views are also recorded against the current session identifier. This includes the type of page viewed and, for a ship or person record, the relevant record identifier. A user ID is added only when the visitor is signed in.
Security
We use proportionate technical and organisational controls, including access restrictions, password hashing, validation, rate limiting and database logging. No internet service can guarantee absolute security. Please do not send unnecessary sensitive information through ordinary forms or email.
6. Your data-protection rights
Depending on the circumstances, living individuals may have rights to be informed, access personal information, correct inaccuracies, request erasure or restriction, object to processing, receive certain portable data and withdraw consent. Newsletter consent may be withdrawn at any time by contacting us. You may also complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office.
Rights are not always absolute. Applicable exemptions and competing rights may include freedom of expression and information, legal obligations, legal claims, and archiving or historical research where the relevant conditions and safeguards are met. We will consider each valid request on its facts.
UK data-protection rights generally concern identifiable living individuals. Concerns about a deceased person may still be reviewed under our accuracy, provenance, confidentiality, copyright and ethical standards, but they are not automatically treated as the deceased person’s data-protection request.
Known status of Operation Dynamo veterans
Published reporting indicates that the last known British veterans of Operation Dynamo have died. The BBC reported in August 2023 that Lawrence Churcher, believed to be the last known Royal Navy veteran of the evacuation, had died aged 102. Forces News subsequently reported in May 2025 that Duncan McInnes BEM, described as the last known British Dunkirk veteran, had died aged 105.
On that evidence, we reasonably expect the core 1940 service records indexed by this archive to concern deceased participants. However, “last known” is not a definitive population record and these reports do not establish that every Allied or civilian participant, or every person identified in later supporting material, is deceased. We therefore do not use age or veteran status as a blanket substitute for checking a credible concern involving a potentially living individual.
Sources: BBC News, 14 August 2023 and Forces News, 19 May 2025.
To protect personal information, we may ask for proportionate evidence of identity or authority. Formal rights requests are handled without undue delay and normally within one calendar month after any reasonably required verification or clarification. A complex request may take up to two further months where the law permits; we will explain an extension.
7. Content concerns, corrections and removal requests
We welcome properly evidenced notices concerning accuracy, privacy, copyright, confidentiality, safety or other legal rights. A notice should be sent through the Contact Us form.
To allow a fair and reliable assessment, please provide:
- your full name and a working email address;
- the exact page URL and a precise description or screenshot of the material concerned;
- whether you are the subject, a rights holder, an authorised representative or another interested person;
- the specific inaccuracy, harm or right relied upon—not simply disagreement with the historical record;
- reliable supporting evidence, source citations and, where acting for another person or estate, evidence of authority;
- the outcome requested: correction, added context, attribution, restricted access or removal;
- any urgency, safety risk, court order, statutory deadline or confidential information requiring special handling.
Do not send original identity documents unless requested. You may redact irrelevant details. A statutory data-rights request does not need special wording; the information above helps us identify the material and respond accurately.
Assessment principles
A request does not create an automatic right to removal. We will consider authenticity, provenance, accuracy, the status and sensitivity of the information, whether a person is living, the requester’s rights and authority, risk of substantial damage or distress, copyright or confidentiality, freedom of expression and information, research and educational value, public interest, archival integrity and available less intrusive measures.
Possible outcomes include correcting transcription, adding context or a disputed-status note, improving attribution, limiting access, removing a search result while preserving an underlying record, temporarily restricting material during investigation, removing material, or taking no action. We may preserve a confidential audit copy where lawful and necessary.
8. Review and appeal procedure
- Triage: we aim to acknowledge a sufficiently identifiable concern within 10 working days. Urgent and credible risks to safety, active legal restrictions or highly sensitive information may be prioritised.
- Clarification: if the page, claim, identity, authority or evidence is unclear, we may request focused additional information. Ordinary editorial review may pause until it is supplied. Statutory deadlines are handled according to applicable law.
- Evidence review: we may examine source images, catalogue entries and other records; consult a custodian, contributor, specialist or rights holder; and invite a response where fairness requires it.
- Decision: we aim to provide a reasoned outcome for an ordinary content concern within 30 calendar days after receiving sufficient information. Complex historical, ownership or legal disputes may take longer, and we will provide an update.
- Internal appeal: a requester may seek one reconsideration within 30 days of the decision, identifying a material factual error, overlooked evidence or new evidence. The appeal should not merely repeat the original submission.
- Final position: after appeal, further duplicate correspondence may be closed unless it raises materially new evidence, a new legal basis or a changed risk. This does not limit a person’s statutory rights or ability to approach a regulator or court.
We may decline to adjudicate private disputes that cannot be reliably resolved from documentary evidence. Where appropriate, competing accounts may be recorded rather than one account being erased.
9. Availability, disclaimers and liability
The website and archive are provided for historical research and general information. They are not legal, genealogical or professional advice. We do not guarantee uninterrupted availability, completeness, accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose, continued access to any record, or that external links and media will remain available.
Nothing in these terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation. Subject to that, and to the extent permitted by law, we are not responsible for indirect or consequential loss, loss arising from reliance on unverified archive content, third-party services, or unauthorised use of material by another user.
10. Changes, severability and governing law
We may update this notice to reflect legal, operational or archive changes. The date above identifies the current version. Material changes may be highlighted on the website. If any provision is unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to apply.
These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales will have jurisdiction, subject to any mandatory consumer or data-protection rights that apply where you live.