Skylark was laid down on 9 July 1941 by the General Engineering & Dry Dock Company of Alameda, California; launched on 12 March 1942; sponsored by Mrs. William L. Simpson; and commissioned on 25 November 1942. On 15 February 1945, Skylark pointed her bow westward again and sailed out of Alameda, California. She entered Pearl Harbor on 22 February, provisioned on the 23rd, and headed back to Eniwetok on the 24th. A month later, Skylark was with the other minesweepers clearing the invasion areas around Okinawa.