USS Meadowlark (AMS-196)

History
Name: USS Meadowlark
Builder: Broward Marine Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Laid down: 18 May 1953
Launched: 28 August 1954
Commissioned: 14 May 1955
Decommissioned: date unknown
Reclassified: MSC-196, 7 February 1955
Struck: 1 May 1976
Fate: Transferred to Indonesia, 1971. Sold, 1 September 1976.
General characteristics
Class and type: Falcon-class minesweeper
Displacement: 362 long tons (368 t)
Length: 144 ft 3 in (43.97 m)
Beam: 27 ft 2 in (8.28 m)
Draft: 12 ft (3.7 m)
Propulsion: 2 × 600 shp (447 kW) Packard diesel engines, 2 shafts
Speed: 13.6 knots (25.2 km/h; 15.7 mph)
Complement: 39
Armament:

USS Meadowlark (AMS-196) was a Falcon-class coastal minesweeper acquired by the United States Navy for clearing coastal minefields.

Meadowlark was laid down on 18 May 1953 by Broward Marine Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and launched on 28 August 1954, sponsored by Mrs. Thomas E. Sheridan. Reclassified as Coastal Minesweeper MSC-196 on 7 February 1955, and commissioned on 10 May 1955, Lt. J. P. Cromwell in command.

East Coast operations

Meadowlark conducted shakedown training out of Charleston, South Carolina. 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.

Military awards and honors

An eager competitor in fleet exercises and battle problems, MSC-196 was recognized for her operational readiness. From 1962 she won five consecutive Battle Efficiency "E" awards and accumulated an equal number of awards for excellence in mine counter measures.

Decommissioning

Meadowlark was transferred to Indonesia in 1971 as Pulau Alau (M 717); struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 May 1976; and, sold, 1 September 1976. Fate: unknown. Decommissioned September 1968 (?) and placed in service as a Naval Reserve training ship along with "Limpkin", both based at Perth Amboy, NJ.

See also

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

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