Operation Dynamo Archive montage featuring evacuation ships, soldiers, wartime photographs, maps and naval records

ADMIRALTY ARCHIVE • PUBLIC RECORD

Welcome to the Operation Dynamo Archive

Digitising the people, ships, and stories of the Dunkirk evacuation (May–June 1940).

HISTORICAL BRIEF

About Operation Dynamo and the Dunkirk Evacuation

Operation Dynamo was the Allied evacuation from Dunkirk between 26 May and 4 June 1940. Naval vessels, merchant ships and hundreds of smaller craft worked under extraordinary conditions to carry servicemen away from the beaches and harbour. Their combined effort became one of the defining maritime episodes of the Second World War.

The Operation Dynamo Archive brings together searchable Dunkirk records concerning ships, naval personnel, civilian crews, gallantry awards and surviving documents. Browse the Dunkirk Little Ships and larger vessels, identify people recorded in wartime reports, and examine evidence that helps separate historical fact from later myth.

ARCHIVE STATISTICS

Operation Dynamo records at a glance

These live figures are calculated from the current searchable database. Nationality and vessel-type totals use the classifications recorded in the underlying source documents, while the overall ship total combines the principal vessel collections. They describe indexed records and associations—not a definitive count of ships or people who participated.

Total ships: 2,559
French ships: 76
Dutch ships: 5
Tugs: 49
Fishing vessels: 116
Destroyers: 44
Recorded officers: 585
Recorded civilians: 124

These personnel figures do not represent everyone who took part in Operation Dynamo. They count only individuals for whom records are currently held in this database. “Recorded officers” and “recorded civilians” are keyword classifications derived from the available rank/rating fields, which may be incomplete, historically inconsistent or recorded differently between sources.

01 / VESSELS

Ship Logs

Logs from destroyers, trawlers, and paddle steamers that supported the evacuation.

Browse Logs (2,559 records)

02 / PERSONNEL

Individuals

Officers, enlisted men and civilians mentioned in the archives.

Explore Biographies (1,772 records)

03 / HONOURS

Award Recommendations

Digitised citations for DSCs and Mentions in Despatches.

Search Awards (649 records)

04 / FILES

Collections

View the specific searchable collections.

Browse Collections

05 / FLEET DATA

Unique Ships by Type

Distinct vessel names grouped by type from our independently compiled searchable Orde index. It is a research finding aid assembled from factual references and limited transcriptions, not a reproduction of the complete underlying document or proof that every listed vessel participated.

06 / SEARCH

Advanced Search

Perform an advanced search across multiple collections.

CATALOGUED SOURCES

Documents Indexed in the Operation Dynamo Archive

Search across several complementary wartime and maritime sources. Comparing the same vessel or person between these indexes can reveal alternate names, service details, crew references, registration information and surviving page images.

Lt Col G. P. Orde’s List

Lt Col G. P. Orde compiled Dunkirk Withdrawal: Operation Dynamo, May 26–June 4, 1940: Alphabetical List of Vessels Taking Part, With Their Services soon after the evacuation. He drew on official and private sources, including reports from Dover, Ramsgate and Margate, Sheerness records, government and Admiralty papers, French Admiralty information and interviews. Arranged principally by vessel name, entries can record a vessel’s type, nationality, owner and commanding officer; dates, actions and numbers evacuated; information sources; and crew honours. The list also includes subject headings, cross-references, footnotes recording conflicting evidence and later annotations concerning French vessels. It is broad in scope, although some lost private craft or tenders may be absent and some marginal claims were retained.

Our searchable Orde index is an independently compiled finding aid, not a publication of the complete underlying document. We aggregate factual references and provide limited transcriptions to help researchers locate names, vessels and source material. Copyright and all other rights in the underlying source remain with their respective rights holders.

The Red Book / Red List, 1939–40

Searchable OCR from the Admiralty Red List volumes helps locate ship names within scanned wartime pages. Matching records link the transcribed text back to page images, making it possible to inspect the original source and account for historic spellings or OCR variations. The relevant page images are photographs personally taken by the site operator in The National Archives reading rooms. TNA has waived reproduction fees for their non-commercial use, but expressly confirmed that this is not a copyright licence. Publication is subject to the Open Government Licence where applicable, its exclusions, and any third-party rights. Copyright and all other rights remain with their respective rights holders. Read the full rights statement.

Small Craft Service List

The Small Craft Service List records working boats, yachts and other small vessels, together with named personnel, vessel types and supporting document images where available. It adds detail to the civilian and auxiliary craft story. The relevant page images are photographs personally taken by the site operator in The National Archives reading rooms. TNA has waived reproduction fees for their non-commercial use, but expressly confirmed that this is not a copyright licence. Publication is subject to the Open Government Licence where applicable, its exclusions, and any third-party rights. Copyright and all other rights remain with their respective rights holders. Read the full rights statement.

Lloyd’s Yacht Register, 1939

Pre-war Lloyd’s register entries offer a valuable snapshot of yachts before Operation Dynamo. Indexed ship names and original register pages can provide ownership, construction and identification context for vessels later involved in wartime service. Lloyd’s Register Foundation and/or its licensors reserve copyright, database and other intellectual property rights in Heritage Centre material. Access and reuse are subject to the Foundation’s Educational Licence for qualifying non-commercial education and research, including its attribution, notice-preservation and other conditions. No commercial-use permission is granted by this website. Read the full rights statement.

Honours and Personnel Records

Search named officers, ratings and civilians alongside Distinguished Service awards, gallantry medals and mentions in despatches. These records connect the ships of Dunkirk with the people whose service was formally recognised.

Admiralty Records (Coming Soon)

A growing collection of Operation Dynamo reports, correspondence, signals, operational summaries and related Admiralty papers from The National Archives. These documents are still being reviewed, catalogued and transcribed. They will be added progressively to the searchable archive as processing is completed.

Compare ship sources Browse indexed people

Personnel by Role and Service Branch

This stacked bar chart shows the distribution of personnel roles across the main naval service branches recorded in Orde’s report.

Personnel Count by Rank or Rating

Counts use the rank or rating exactly as recorded in the indexed source data.

Records with a stated rank/rating: 892

Officers

Cdr 66

Lt. Cdr 23

Lt 489

Midshipman 7

Ratings

PO 128

Signalman 22

Ord 26

W/T Op 1

Civilians

Skipper 104

Mate 13

2nd Hand 6

Deckhand 7

Officer Ranks

Contemporary Royal Navy officer rank and sleeve insignia.

Royal Navy officer rank and sleeve badges — Royal Navy Officers

Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve officer rank and sleeve badges — Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve Officers

Royal Naval Reserve officer rank and sleeve badges — Royal Naval Reserve Officers

Additional Ranks

Badges of Petty Officers and Ratings

Royal Navy and Reserve trade, specialist, good-service and rating badges.

Extracted from Rank and Badges in the Navy, Army, R.A.F. and Auxiliaries (1943).

Personnel by Role and Service Branch

A breakdown of individuals listed in Lieutenant Colonel G.P. Orde’s report by their recorded role and branch.

Service Branch	Role	Count
RN	S/Lt	42
RN	Lt	38
RN	Lt Cdr	33
RN	Cdr	21
RN	Unknown	10
RNR	Lt	39
RNR	Temp Lt	2
RNR	Unknown	3
RNVR	Lt	46
RNVR	S/Lt	62
RNVR	Unknown	5
Unknown	Unknown	280
Unknown	Master	104
Unknown	Able Seaman	116
Unknown	Captain	107
Unknown	Deckhand	32
Unknown	Engineer	46
Unknown	Signaller	30
Unknown	Owner/Master (Civil)	38
Unknown	PO	24
Unknown	Skipper/Crew	20
Unknown	ERA	14
Unknown	Ordinary Seaman	13
Unknown	Seaman	12
Unknown	Medical Officer	5
Unknown	Leading Stoker	7
Unknown	Radio Officer	6
Unknown	Stoker	5

HONOURS & AWARDS

Award Records

This section lists the officers, ratings, and civilians who were recognised for gallantry or distinguished service during the Dunkirk evacuation and related naval operations. In total, 329 individuals were Mentioned in Despatches, alongside formal awards of the Distinguished Service Medal (D.S.M, 177), Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C, 99), and Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O, 21). Other decorations include the British Empire Medal (B.E.M, 6)—with one civil award—the Member of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E, 3), the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (C.G.M, 3), and single awards such as the Croix de Guerre, an honorary O.B.E (Civil), and a unique Battle Honour. A small number also received bars to existing decorations, denoting a second act of bravery or distinguished service. Together, these honours represent the extraordinary courage and devotion to duty shown by those who took part in Operation Dynamo.

View all 649 award records and recipients

Awards & Mentions — Counts by Category

Mention in Despatches

DOCUMENT CASE FILES

Featured Documents

Selected contemporary records revealing individual experiences, official decisions and the practical realities of Operation Dynamo. Select any document image to enlarge it.

Admiralty Press Notice: Operation Dynamo

An Admiralty press notice dated 4 June 1940 congratulating the services involved in the evacuation and recognising the endurance, cooperation and sacrifice that brought the operation to a successful conclusion.

Admiralty press notice, 4 June 1940

Log of Laetitia

Vessels were painted grey for the evacuation—a gentleman’s yacht, being pristine white, was simply unacceptable for wartime. It breaks all the rules of military aesthetics.

Dunkirk, May–June 1940: Log of Laetitia

Commendation of A. G. McCrum, R.N.

“A. G. McCrum, R.N., who was in control of the foremost gun and who set an example of cheerfulness and courage which did much to keep up the spirits of the ship’s company throughout a trying few hours.”

Wartime commendation, page 4

A Floating Mine and Fouled Propellers

“Our first bit of excitement was when a floating mine was seen and after making several attempts to sink it with machine gun fire we had to take a wide detour, and this interlude together with the delay in endeavouring to clear the propellers of the vessels which had been fouled caused us to be very much later than intended.”

Account by Lieutenant-Commander R. W. Faulkner, R.N.R.

Ships Refusing to Sail

Not everyone was so keen. At Folkestone on 2–3 June, aboard S.S. Ben-my-Chree, the guard had to force the crew back on board at the point of the bayonet to keep them there until the relief crew arrived.

Principal Sea Transport Officer, Dover, 5 June 1940

The Canterbury Crew Refusal

A report describing how H.T. Canterbury sailed only after an unfit master was replaced, missing crew were augmented and an armed guard was placed aboard.

Principal Sea Transport Officer, Dover, 4 June 1940

Criticisms of Conduct During Air Raids

“When being bombed in daylight and at night it is apparently the Army training for the men to lie over on their faces in a huddled heap and to await the completion of the air raid. I consider that if one lies over on one’s face during an air raid, one gets the impression that the bombs when falling with very horrid shrieking noises are each and all coming to land right in the small of one’s back.”

Personal remarks and criticisms, wartime report

Repairs to Vessels Employed in Operation Dynamo

An engineering report recording approximately 170 vessels dealt with for defects and describing the workshops, personnel, fuel and materials used at the naval base at Ramsgate.

Engineer Captain, Naval Base Ramsgate, 10 June 1940

The Merchant Navy’s Part in the Evacuation

A Ministry of Shipping announcement conveying the Government’s gratitude to the masters and crews of merchant ships that participated in the evacuation.

Ministry of Shipping announcement, 21 June 1940

Admiralty Summary of the Operation

An Admiralty summary dated 3 June 1940 describing the scale of the withdrawal, recording naval losses and listing representative vessels engaged in the operation.

Admiralty, 3 June 1940

Naval Cypher: Burial at Sea

A naval cypher concerning Dover Force at sea and instructions that identified dead should, where possible, be buried at sea.

Naval Cypher (B), 30 May 1940

A Proposed R.N.V.R. Commission

A letter from the Small Vessels Pool discussing an injured man’s pay, hospital treatment and suitability for a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve commission.

Small Vessels Pool, Admiralty, 25 June 1940

ARCHIVE FILM UNIT

Featured Moving Pictures

Selected film records of Dunkirk and Operation Dynamo. Select a frame to begin projection.

EVIDENCE FILE / 1940

Dunkirk Fables

Famous images can acquire convincing but inaccurate captions. These case files separate evocative imagery from documentary evidence and add practical context to familiar modern impressions.

File 01 · The Dunkirk Stamp Image

A Royal Mail 60p stamp issued under the Operation Dynamo theme does not show the Dunkirk evacuation. The published frame is cropped from a review of the Upper Thames Patrol held in early August 1940.

Royal Mail stamp image presented under the Dunkirk theme — The commemorative stamp crop presented as a Dunkirk image.

Wider source image of the Upper Thames Patrol review in August 1940 — The wider Upper Thames Patrol review photograph from August 1940.

File 02 · The Ealing Studios Film Image

A dramatic scene featuring Vanity is frequently reproduced as a photograph of the evacuation. Other views reveal the Ealing Studios production setting, while the same composition appears in publicity artwork for the film Dunkirk. It is a staged film image rather than a wartime record.

Ealing Studios film still featuring Vanity often presented as a real Dunkirk scene — The familiar staged image often captioned as Dunkirk.

Behind-the-scenes view revealing the Ealing Studios film set — A second angle reveals the Ealing Studios setting.

Official Dunkirk film poster using the staged Vanity image — The same composition used in official film publicity.

File 03 · Working Yachts, Not Concours Exhibits

Dianthus among a closely gathered group of working motor yachts — *Dianthus* among working motor yachts. The image has been colourised, so fine details and colours should be interpreted cautiously.

The practical condition of wartime motor yachts

This image is presented as showing gentleman’s motor yachts during or directly after the Operation Dynamo period. Its value lies in the practical picture it offers: these were working craft, not the highly restored concours vessels commonly seen today with flawless paint, extensive varnish and polished brightwork.

Many pre-war motor yachts were comfortable cruising boats—effectively floating holiday homes or “floating caravans”—built for family and leisure use. Their serviceable, lived-in appearance is part of their history and helps explain the considerable demands placed on both vessels and crews in 1940.

Built by Timms of Staines in 1938, Dianthus was only about two years old during Operation Dynamo. Even so, the independently compiled Orde index records her leaving Ramsgate three times in attempts to reach Dunkirk, suffering engine trouble on two attempts and returning after a crew member was injured on the second. According to that entry, she did not reach Dunkirk. Her experience is a useful reminder that even a comparatively new vessel could encounter serious mechanical difficulties under operational conditions.

Vessels retained for naval or military duties then faced years of hard service. By 1945, wear, deferred maintenance and repair costs could make the return of some wooden craft unattractive or uneconomic to their pre-war owners. Their work-worn condition should be read as evidence of use, adaptation and service—not as a failure to meet modern presentation standards.

This image and the original discussion were first shared in the Facebook group linked here. Colourisation or later image processing may have altered some visual details.