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NavSource Online: Mine Warfare Vessel Photo Archive



Courtesy of LT Philip M.Palmer, USN
Commanding Officer 1960 - 1962
Inscription on plaque reads "Guardian of the Coast"

Meadowlark (MSC 196)
ex-AMS-196


Meadowlark served the Navies of the United States and Indonesia
Falcon Class Motor Minesweeper:

  • Laid down 18 May 1953 as AMS-196 by Broward Marine Inc., Fort Lauderdale, FL
  • Launched 28 August 1954
  • Reclassified as a Coastal Minesweeper, MSC-196, 7 February 1955
  • Commissioned USS Meadowlark (MSC 196), 14 May 1955
  • Transferred to Indonesia in 1971 and renamed Pulau Alau (M 717)
  • Struck from the Navy Register 1 May 1976
  • Sold 1 September 1976
  • Fate unknown.

    Specifications:

  • Displacement 362 t.
  • Length 144' 3"
  • Beam 27' 2"
  • Draft 12'
  • Speed 13.6 kts.
  • Complement 39
  • Armament: Two .50 cal. machine guns and one 81mm mortar
  • Propulsion: Two 600shp Packard diesel engines, two shafts.
    Click on thumbnail
    for full size image    		 Size Image Description Source
    Meadowlark 77k c. 1961
    Transiting the Panama Canal
    Photo courtesy of LT Philip M. Palmer, Commanding Officer 1960 - 1962    		 Tom Lawson
    Commanding Officers
    01LT John Philip Cromwell, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 195110 May 1955 - 14 April 1957
    02LT Rodion Cantacuzene, USN - USNA Class of 195214 April 1957 - November 1958
    03LT Paul Richard Foley, USN - USNA Class of 1954November 1958 - 28 July 1960
    04LT Philip Maynard Palmer, USN28 July 1960 - 14 June 1962
    05LT Alex Anthony Martella, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 195814 June 1962 - December 1963
    06LT Paul Hamilton Jacobs, USNDecember 1963 - 4 December 1966
    07LT Morris Dempster Busby, USN4 December 1966 - 1967
    08LT William Winston Medaris, USN - USNA Class of 19601967 - 24 September 1968
    09LTJG Philip E. Gilbert, USN24 September 1968
    Courtesy Wolfgang Hechler, Ron Reeves and Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory)
    View the Meadowlark (MSC 196)
    DANFS History entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Website
    Back To The Main Photo Index Back To the Mine Warfare Ship Photo Index Back to the Motor Minesweeper (AMS) Photo Index Back to the Coastal Minesweeper (MSC) Photo Index
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    This page created and maintained by Joseph M. Radigan (of blessed memory) & Michael Mohl

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