The destroyer was laid down at the Consolidated Steel Corporation at Orange, Texas, on 27 January 1945; launched on 28 June 1945, sponsored by Miss Juliette S. Kopper, great-great-great-grandniece of Sergeant Meredith; and commissioned on 31 December 1945.

Following sea trials and shakedown exercises in the spring of 1946, Meredith was employed, for a brief period, in training submarine officers at New London, Connecticut, before steaming south to serve as plane guard for the aircraft carrier Randolph during the 1946 midshipmen summer cruise.

During her 1958 overseas deployment, she served briefly with the Middle East Force as she and HMS Loch Fyne stood by in the Euphrates delta area after the Iraqi revolution of 14 July.

Entering the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, on 28 June 1960, she remained for a year and two days during which time her bridge was enclosed, her torpedo deck was modified to allow the installation of ASROC, and her seven-year-old 3 inch battery was replaced by a helicopter hangar and flight deck to accommodate the QH-50 DASH (Drone Anti-Submarine Helicopter) weapons system.

1969 In the early part of the year Meredith passed through the Panama canal en route to the western pacific where she participated in the Action in the South China Sea providing coastal bombardment and plane guard service.

Subsequent to the WestPac tour of 1969 Meredith once again sailed to join the United States 6th Fleet for service in the Mediterranean, after which she returned her Mayport, Fla. home port.