Meadowlark was laid down on 18 May 1953, as AMS-196, by Broward Marine, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Florida; launched on 28 August 1954, sponsored by Mrs. Thomas E. Sheridan; reclassified MSC-196 on 7 February 1955; and commissioned on 10 May 1955.

This remained her home port into 1969, except for a period commencing February 1956, when assigned to the Naval Mine Warfare School, Yorktown, Virginia.

She conducted operations from Nova Scotia to the Panama Canal Zone, and in January 1967, visited Curaçao, Netherlands West Indies.

With Mine Squadron 42 she twice participated in joint exercises with the Royal Canadian Navy the first time off Nova Scotia in July 1958, and again in June 1963, along the Florida coast.

[2] Meadowlark was transferred to Indonesia in 1971, and renamed Pulau Alau (M-717); struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 May 1976; and, sold, 1 September 1976.