French ship Molène
German and French fishing trawler and auxiliary warship
Molène was a French transport ship which was built as the German fishing trawler Köln in 1937. She was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine during the Second World War. She was used as a minesweeper under the Pennant numbers M 1405 and M 4416, and later as the Vorpostenboot V 624 Köln. Severely damaged by a mine in 1943, she was laid up. She was seized by the French post war and entered service with the French Navy as Molène. She was sold out of service in 1963.
Description
The ship 35.76 m (117 ft 4 in) long, with a beam of 7.49 metres (24 ft 7 in). She had a depth of 3.28 m (10 ft 9 in). She was assessed at 269 GRT, 121 NRT. She was powered by a diesel engine, which had 8 cylinders of 28 centimetres (11 in) diameter by 44.9 centimetres (17+11⁄16 in) stroke. The engine was built by Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG, Köln, Germany and was rated at 94 nhp or 500 bhp.
The public source identifies “French ship Molène” as german and French fishing trawler and auxiliary warship. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around French, ship and Molène.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “French ship Molène”, the useful work is to connect “german and French fishing trawler and auxiliary warship” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 31, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q125565169. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1937, 1405, 1943 and 1963.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “French ship Molène”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow French ship Molène primary sources, French ship Molène archive and French research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “French ship Molène”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “French ship Molène” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.