Her keel was laid at the Kaiserliche Werft at Danzig in February 1914 and Meteor was launched in January 1915.

Originally intended to become a gunboat for the Imperial German Navy's colonial service she was not finished during the First World War due to limited need for lightly armed vessels.

Meteor entered service in November 1924 and made her maiden survey expedition between 20 January and 17 February 1925 with the main purpose to check the equipment.

[1] Between 1929 and 1935 Meteor made several journeys to Iceland and Greenland, where she performed survey work as well as fishery protection duties.

During the Gulf Stream Expedition from 1938 a plateau rising to 269 metres (883 ft) below surface from a sea depth of more than 4,000 m was discovered.