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Hekkova Ships Terms of Service

Last Updated: July 25, 2026

PLEASE READ THIS LEGAL DOCUMENT CAREFULLY. Hekkova LLC (dba Hekkova Ships) (referred to herein as "Hekkova", or "Hekkova Ships”) provides a structured archive of U.S. Navy records including ship histories, deployments, casualty and yard-period records, deck log references, war diaries, and action reports (referred to herein as “Hekkova Services” or “Hekkova Ships Services,” available through the Hekkova website (the “Site”) to its customers (referred to herein as “Customers,” “Subscribers,” or “you”).

PLEASE READ: THESE TERMS CONTAIN A BINDING ARBITRATION AGREEMENT AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER (SECTION 12). READ CAREFULLY, INCLUDING YOUR RIGHT, IF APPLICABLE, TO OPT OUT OF ARBITRATION. EXCEPT FOR CERTAIN TYPES OF DISPUTES DESCRIBED IN SECTION 12 BELOW, OR WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW, BY ENTERING INTO THESE TERMS YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND HEKKOVA WILL BE RESOLVED BY BINDING, INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION, AND YOU HEREBY WAIVE YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT OR CLASS-WIDE ARBITRATION.

By registering as a Hekkova Customer or by visiting, browsing, or using the Hekkova Services in any way, you (as a "user") accept and agree to be bound by these Terms, which form a binding agreement between you and Hekkova LLC.

If you do not wish to be bound by these Terms, you may not access or use the Hekkova Service.

You must be at least 18 years old and capable of forming a binding contract under the laws of your jurisdiction.

1. The Service

1.1 Description

Hekkova Ships is a structured archive of US Navy ship records, including ship histories, deployments, casualty and yard-period records, deck log references, war diaries, and action reports. Source materials are drawn from public-domain records held by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC), the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS), and other public sources. The compilation, structuring, verification, cross-referencing, annotation, and presentation of these records are the proprietary work product of Hekkova.

1.2 Service Products

Hekkova’s Services include (i) the Public Tier; (ii) the Subscription Tiers; and (iii) One-off Products. Your Order will specify the products or subscriptions that you ordered and their applicable price.

1.3 Your License

Subject to your compliance with these Terms including but not limited to Permitted Use and Prohibited Use below, and solely for so long as you are permitted by us to access and use the Hekkova Service, Hekkova grants you a limited, non-transferable, non-exclusive, revocable right and license to access and use the Hekkova Service for your own personal, non-commercial purposes, a right which may not be assigned or sublicensed to anyone. This license is restricted to the license terms contained in your order (“Order”). This license grant is subject to you agreeing to and abiding by these Terms. This license will remain in effect unless and until you violate these Terms or this license is terminated by you or Hekkova.

1.4 No Endorsement

The Service draws on public records from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), including via the National Archives Catalog API, the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC), and the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS). Hekkova is not endorsed, certified, sponsored, or affiliated with the US Navy, the US Department of Defense, NARA, NHHC, or any government agency. Use of these sources is subject to their respective terms.

1.5 Third Party AI Providers The Services incorporate artificial intelligence ("AI") technologies, including large language models ("LLMs"), to generate, analyze, summarize, classify, and otherwise process Customer Documents to provide and improve certain features and functionality of the Services.

2. Intellectual Property Rights

2.1 Hekkova LLC Intellectual Property Rights

Hekkova LLC retains all right, title, and interest in and to the Service, including without limitation all updates, modifications, and customizations, all software or other assets created through setup or configuration, and all text, photographs, illustrations, designs, logos, trademarks and other content reproduced through the Service, used to provide the Service (collectively “Materials”). Customer recognizes and agrees that: (a) the Materials are the property of Hekkova LLC or its licensors and are protected by copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, and other intellectual property laws; and (b) Customer does not acquire any right, title, or interest in or to the Materials except the limited and temporary right to use them as necessary for Customer’s use of the Service. This Agreement does not grant Customer any intellectual property rights in or to the Service or any of its components, except to the limited extent necessary, if any, to use the Service. Hekkova LLC claims no rights in the primary historical records cited in the Service such as (deck logs, war diaries, action reports, command histories), which are public-domain works of the US federal government.

2.2 Customer Intellectual Property

Customer maintains all rights in the materials it uploads to the Site.

2.3 Trademarks

“Hekkova,” “Hekkova Ships,” and associated logos and brand elements are trademarks of Hekkova LLC. Use without written permission is prohibited.

2.4 Reservation of Rights

All rights not expressly granted in these Terms are reserved by Hekkova.

3. Permitted Uses

3.1 General

You may access, view, and reference the Service for lawful research, scholarship, journalism, genealogy, family history, legal research, and personal use, subject to the restrictions in Section 4.

3.2 Quotation and Attribution

You may quote individual records, citations, or short factual passages from the Service in books, articles, court filings, scholarly works, and similar uses, provided that:

  • Such quotation does not constitute a substantial portion of the Service or any individual ship’s compiled record;

  • You attribute the source as “Hekkova Ships, ships.hekkova.com” or substantially similar;

  • You do not present the compiled record as your own work.

3.3 Subscriber Export

Active subscribers may export records they reasonably need for their own research or business purposes. Exported data remains subject to all redistribution and AI-training restrictions in Section 4.

4. Prohibited Uses

You may not, and may not permit any third party to:

4.1 Scraping and Automated Extraction

  • Use any robot, data mining, spider, scraper, crawler, or other similar data gathering and extraction tools to access, extract, copy, or index any portion of the Service, except for search engine indexing of publicly accessible pages by widely recognized search engines (e.g., Google, Bing) operating in compliance with our robots.txt;

  • Use any third-party software or browser extensions that scrape, modify the appearance of, or automate activity on our Site;

  • Circumvent, disable, or interfere with rate limits, access controls, authentication, or any other security or access-management features;

  • Use headless browsers, browser automation tools, or AI agents to systematically access the Service.

4.2 AI Training and Machine Learning

  • Use any portion of the Service, including text, data, metadata, citations, or compiled records, to train, fine-tune, evaluate, or otherwise develop any machine learning model, large language model, generative AI system, or similar technology;

  • Provide any portion of the Service to a third party for the purposes described above;

  • Use AI agents acting on your behalf to systematically extract, compile, or summarize substantial portions of the Service.

Incidental use of AI tools by individual researchers (e.g., asking an AI assistant to explain a single ship page they are reading) is not prohibited. Systematic extraction by AI agents is.

4.3 Redistribution

  • Redistribute, republish, sublicense, sell, rent, lease, or otherwise transfer any portion of the compiled records, structured data, or proprietary content to any third party;

  • Create derivative works that compete with or substitute for the Service;

  • Aggregate Hekkova content with other sources in a manner that allows third parties to access Hekkova’s compiled records without an active Hekkova subscription.

4.4 Account Sharing and Misuse

  • Share login credentials with any other person or entity (Institutional subscriptions are governed by separate license terms);

  • Use the Service in any manner that violates applicable law, infringes the rights of others, or harms Hekkova or its users;

  • Attempt to reverse engineer, decompile, or otherwise derive the source code, database schema, or proprietary methodology of the Service.

4.5 Compilation Replication

  • Use the Service as a source, reference, or training input for the creation of any competing database, archive, or research product, whether commercial or non-commercial.

5. Subscriptions & Billing

5.1 Billing

Subscriptions are billed in advance on a monthly or annual basis through our trusted payment provider as described in your applicable Order. By subscribing, you authorize Hekkova to charge your payment method on a recurring basis until canceled.

5.2 Cancellation

You may cancel at any time through your account dashboard. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period. No refunds are permitted.

5.3 Refunds

Except as required by applicable law, all fees are non-refundable. No refund will be issued for any subscription terminated by Hekkova due to violation of these Terms.

5.4 Price Changes

Hekkova may change subscription prices with advance notice before the change takes effect. Your continued subscription after the notice period constitutes acceptance of the new price.

6. One-Off Products

6.1 Deployment Records

Deployment Records are delivered electronically for the fee specified in your Order. All sales are final, except as required by applicable law. Customers receive a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the PDF for personal, scholarly, genealogical, or legal research purposes. Redistribution and AI training restrictions contained herein apply.

6.2 OMPF Concierge Service

The OMPF (Official Military Personnel File) concierge service produces a structured analysis report of a veteran’s military personnel records. It is offered in three tiers, which differ only in how the records reach Hekkova for analysis, subject to the fee specified in your applicable Order.

  • Analysis Tier: The customer uploads an electronic copy of an OMPF they already possess, and Hekkova prepares the analysis report from those records.

  • Non-Archival Retrieval Tier: Hekkova requests the records from the relevant federal agency (typically the National Personnel Records Center, “NPRC”) on the customer’s behalf and prepares the analysis report from the records received; available to the veteran or a next of kin as defined by NARA.

  • Archival Retrieval Tier: Hekkova requests archival records (veteran separated, retired, or deceased more than 62 years ago) from NPRC on the customer’s behalf and prepares the analysis report from the records received.

6.2.1 Analysis Tier — Customer-Uploaded Records

The analysis tier is available only for archival records — those of a veteran who separated from service, retired from service, or died in service more than 62 years ago, and which are therefore public-domain records under NARA classification.

Before uploading, the customer represents and warrants the following:

  • Archival status: that the veteran whose records are being uploaded separated from service, retired from service, or died in service more than 62 years ago, making the records archival under NARA classification;

  • Legitimate possession: that the customer obtained the records through lawful means (including NARA archival research, a FOIA request, an eVetRecs request as the veteran or qualifying next of kin, inheritance from the veteran or their estate, or purchase from a public archive); and

  • Authority to upload: that the customer has the authority to share the records with Hekkova for the purpose of analysis.

The above representations and warranties are incorporated by reference into these Terms. Hekkova cannot independently verify these representations and relies on them. The customer agrees to indemnify Hekkova in accordance with Section 9 for any third-party claim arising from a misrepresentation in these attestations.

Records ownership and license. The customer retains all rights in the records they upload. The customer grants Hekkova a limited, non-exclusive, license to access and process the uploaded records solely to perform the analysis and prepare the report.

Handling and deletion of uploaded records. Uploaded records are scanned for malware, encrypted at rest, and processed as described in the Privacy Policy. Uploaded records are deleted after the report is delivered. More information about deletion of reports is contained in your applicable Order.

Processing of records by third-party AI. As part of preparing the report, uploaded records are processed using Hekkova’s third-party artificial-intelligence provider to assist in synthesizing the records into a structured report, as described in the Privacy Policy.

6.2.2 Retrieval Tiers — Hekkova-Requested Records

On the retrieval tiers, the customer authorizes Hekkova to request the veteran’s records from NPRC on the customer’s behalf; this authorization is captured by electronic signature. Eligibility for the non-archival tier is limited to the veteran or a next of kin as defined by NARA. Where NARA offers a certified copy of retrieved records, it is included in the deliverable at no additional charge.

No guarantee of records retrieval. Hekkova does not guarantee that any specific records will be retrieved. Many records were destroyed in the 1973 NPRC fire or are otherwise unavailable. The fee covers the preparation, submission, and honest reporting of the request and its results — not successful retrieval of records. WHERE RECORDS ARE UNAVAILABLE THROUGH NO FAULT OF HEKKOVA, THERE IS NO REFUND FOR FEES PAID.

6.2.3 Terms Common to All Tiers

Report ownership and license. Hekkova retains ownership of the analysis report it produces, together with its analytical methodology and compiled work product. The report is made available to the customer through their account portal; the customer’s uploaded source records are deleted on the schedule described in Section 6.2.1. The customer is granted a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to use the report for any lawful purpose, including commercial use, court filings, publication, and family records, with or without attribution. The customer may not resell the report as a Hekkova-branded product or license it to third parties as a standalone offering. Aggregated methodological insights remain the property of Hekkova.

Not legal, medical, or expert opinion. The report is informational and is not legal advice, medical advice, or expert testimony, and Hekkova may not be cited as an expert-opinion source.

Refunds. No refund will be issued where the customer has violated these Terms. On the retrieval tiers, no refund will be issued where records are unavailable through no fault of Hekkova.

7. Account Termination

7.1 By You

You may terminate your account at any time by canceling your subscription and ceasing use of the Service.

7.2 By Hekkova

Hekkova may suspend or terminate your account, with or without notice, for:

  • Violation of these Terms;

  • Non-payment of fees;

  • Fraudulent activity;

  • Use of the Service in a manner that threatens its integrity or availability.

No refund will be issued upon termination for violation of these terms.

7.3 Effect of Termination

Upon termination, your right to access the Service ceases. Sections 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 survive termination.

8. Disclaimers

8.1 No Warranty

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, AND ACCURACY. WE DO NOT WARRANT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, SECURE OR FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS.

8.2 Historical Records

Hekkova compiles historical records from public sources and applies reasonable verification methodology. However, Hekkova does not warrant that any record, date, deployment, casualty, or attribute is complete, accurate, or free of error. Records held by external archives may contradict, supplement, or supersede information presented in the Service.

8.3 Not Legal, Medical, or Financial Advice

The Service is for research and informational purposes only. Nothing in the Service constitutes legal, medical, financial, or professional advice. Asbestos litigation researchers, attorneys, claimants, and similar parties should independently verify any record relied upon for legal proceedings.

8.4 Third-Party Sources

Hekkova links to and cites third-party sources (NARA, NHHC, veteran association sites, etc.). Hekkova is not responsible for the content, accuracy, or availability of third-party resources.

8.5 No Guarantee of Availability

The Service is provided on an “as available” basis. Hekkova does not guarantee uninterrupted access. Maintenance, technical issues, and external dependencies (e.g., NARA API availability) may affect the Service.

8.6 Discontinuation

Hekkova may discontinue the Service in whole or in part at any time. In the event of full discontinuation, Hekkova will provide active subscribers with a reasonable opportunity to export their accessible data. Hekkova does not guarantee any specific export window or format.

9. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Hekkova LLC, its members, officers, employees, contractors, and agents from any claim, loss, liability, damage, or expense (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to:

  • Your violation of these Terms;

  • Your use of the Service;

  • Your infringement of any third-party right.

  • Your violation of any applicable law or the rights of any third party;

  • Any content you submit or transmit through the Service;

  • Any misrepresentation you make in connection with the Service.

In addition, if you upload any documents into the Service (“Customer Documents”), you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Hekkova LLC, its members, officers, employees, contractors, and agents from any claim, loss, liability, damage, or expense (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to a violation of the following representations and warranties regarding those Customer Documents:

  • Archival status: that the veteran whose records are being uploaded separated from service, retired from service, or died in service more than 62 years ago, making the records archival under NARA classification;

  • Legitimate possession: that the customer obtained the records through lawful means (including NARA archival research, a FOIA request, an eVetRecs request as the veteran or qualifying next of kin, inheritance from the veteran or their estate, or purchase from a public archive); and

  • Authority to upload: that the customer has the authority to share the records with Hekkova for the purpose of analysis.

Hekkova LLC reserves the right to assume exclusive defense of any matter subject to indemnification, at your expense. You agree to cooperate with our defense of such claims.

10. Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW:

  • HEKKOVA’S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO HEKKOVA IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED US DOLLARS ($100).

  • HEKKOVA IS NOT LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION.

  • THESE LIMITATIONS APPLY REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF LIABILITY (CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE) AND REGARDLESS OF WHETHER HEKKOVA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or limitation of liability for certain damages. In such jurisdictions, Hekkova’s liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by law.

11. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Nevada, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods does not apply.

12. Arbitration/Jurisdiction

Arbitration clause and class action waiver.

Important – please review as this affects your legal rights.

The Terms of Service and any separate agreements whereby we provide you the Hekkova Services shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of Nevada without reference to any conflict of law rules.

(a) Arbitration notice

You agree that if there is any dispute or claim arising from or related to the Hekkova Services (except for the Exempt Claims, as defined below), it will be resolved by confidential binding arbitration in Nevada, rather than in court, after first giving Notice of the Dispute (“Notice”) to the other party and the opportunity to discuss resolution within thirty (30) days of such Notice. The Notice to the Company should be sent to Hekkova LLC, 6605 Grand Montecito Parkway, Suite 100, Las Vegas, Nevada 89149 Attn: CEO.

This Notice must include a description of the nature and basis of the claims the party is asserting, and the relief sought. It should also include your name, address and date in the correspondence. If we are unable to resolve the claims described in the Notice within thirty (30) days after the Notice is sent, either party may initiate arbitration proceedings to be conducted by a single impartial arbitrator chosen from the American Arbitration Association (AAA)’s National Roster of Commercial Arbitrators by mutual agreement of the Parties (or by the AAA if the Parties cannot agree). There is no judge or jury in arbitration, and court review of an arbitration award is limited. However, an arbitrator can award on an individual basis the same damages and relief as a court (including injunctive and declaratory relief or statutory damages) and must follow the provisions of these Terms as a court would. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE VOLUNTARILY AND KNOWINGLY FORFEITING YOUR RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY AND TO OTHERWISE PROCEED IN A LAWSUIT IN STATE OR FEDERAL COURT.

The Federal Arbitration Act and federal arbitration law apply, and the AAA will administer the arbitration under its Commercial Arbitration Rules and the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes. Payment of all filing, administration and arbitrator fees will be governed by the AAA’s rules.

The arbitration shall be held in the State of Nevada or at another mutually agreed location. If the arbitration involves a consumer, the arbitration will be held at a location convenient to the consumer. If the value of the relief sought is $10,000 or less, either party may elect to have the arbitration conducted by telephone or based solely on written submissions, which election shall be binding on you and us subject to the arbitrator’s discretion to require an in-person hearing if the circumstances warrant. Attendance at an in-person hearing may be made by telephone by either party unless the arbitrator requires otherwise.

The arbitrator will decide the substance of all claims in accordance with the laws of the State of Nevada, including recognized principles of equity, and will honor all claims of privilege recognized by applicable law. The arbitrator will also decide any questions relating to the interpretation, applicability, or enforceability of this arbitration clause, except where a party files a claim in court because it is an Exempt Claim (as defined below). If either party files an Exempt Claim, the court presiding over that claim will determine if the claim is an Exempt Claim under this Arbitration Clause. The arbitrator’s award shall be confidential, final, and binding, and judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof.

Notwithstanding any provision in these Terms of Service to the contrary, both parties agree that if Hekkova LLC makes any change to this Section (other than a change to any notice address or website link provided herein) in the future, that change shall not apply to any claim that was filed in a proceeding against Hekkova LLC prior to the effective date of the change. Moreover, if Hekkova LLC seeks to terminate this Section, any such termination shall not be effective until thirty (30) days after the version of the Terms of Service containing this Section is posted to the Website and shall not be effective as to any claim that was filed in a proceeding against Hekkova LLC prior to the effective date of termination.

CLASS ACTION WAIVER: YOU AND HEKKOVA LLC AGREE THAT DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND HEKKOVA LLC WILL BE RESOLVED BY BINDING, INDIVIDUAL ARBITRATION AND YOU WAIVE YOUR RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT OR CLASS-WIDE ARBITRATION.

If for any reason a claim proceeds in court rather than in arbitration, you and Hekkova LLC each waive any right to a jury trial.

EXEMPT CLAIMS: You and Hekkova LLC agree that the following two types of claims are not required to be submitted to an arbitration subject to the following conditions:

(i) Neither party is required to arbitrate a claim brought on an individual basis in small-claims court. However, if (a) there is an appeal from small-claims court; or (b) a change in the claim that renders the small-claims court unable to resolve the claim, then the claim must be resolved in an arbitration under the terms of this arbitration provision.

(ii) Neither party is required to arbitrate a claim brought on an individual basis to enjoin infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights. Such a claim may be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction. Both parties agree that the infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights could cause irreparable harm for which monetary damages are an inadequate remedy. The prevailing party in an action to enjoin infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights is entitled to recover costs and fees (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) in pursuing that remedy.

OPT-OUT: You may opt-out of this mandatory arbitration provision by writing to Hekkova LLC within sixty (60) calendar days of your agreement to this arbitration provision, by mail to: Hekkova LLC, 6605 Grand Montecito Parkway, Suite 100, Las Vegas, Nevada 89149 Attn: CEO. Include your name, address and date in the correspondence. This is the only way you can opt-out.

13. General

13.1 Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with any subscription-tier-specific terms, the Privacy Policy, and any order forms, constitute the entire agreement between you and Hekkova regarding the Service, superseding any prior or contemporaneous agreements, communications and proposals, whether oral or written, between you and us (including, but not limited to, any prior versions of the Terms of Service).

13.2 Modifications

Hekkova may modify these Terms at any time. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to notify active subscribers via email or in-Service notice of any material changes prior to their effective date. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

13.3 Severability

If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full force and effect.

13.4 No Waiver

Hekkova’s failure to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Service shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.

13.5 Assignment

You may not assign these Terms without Hekkova’s written consent. Hekkova may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

13.6 Force Majeure

Neither party is liable for delays or failures due to causes beyond reasonable control, including natural disasters, war, terrorism, labor disputes, government action, or interruption of internet or third-party services (including NARA API availability).

13.7 Notices

Notices to Hekkova: support@hekkova.com. Notices to you: the email address associated with your account.

13.8 Headings

Section headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.

14. Contact

Hekkova LLC
Nevada, United States
Email: support@hekkova.com
Web: https://ships.hekkova.com