USS Arkansas (BM-7)

USS Arkansas (M-7), fitting out at Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., 1 July 1902. Her armament is completely installed and the ship is only four months away from commissioning. The ship in the background is the battleship Missouri.
History
United States
Name:	Arkansas (1899-1909) Ozark (1909-1922)
Namesake:	The State of Arkansas Ozark, Arkansas
Ordered:	4 May 1898
Awarded:	11 Oct 1899[1]
Builder:	Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia
Cost:	$1,110,025 (hull and machinery)[2]
Laid down:	14 November 1899[1]
Launched:	10 November 1900[1]
Sponsored by:	Mary L. Macon[3]
Acquired:	8 September 1902[1]
Commissioned:	28 October 1902[1]
Decommissioned:	20 August 1919
Renamed:	Ozark, 2 March 1909 BM-7, 17 July 1920
Identification:	Hull symbol:M-7 Hull Symbol:BM-7
Fate:	sold, 26 January 1922
General characteristics [4]
Type:	Arkansas-class monitor
Displacement:	3,225 long tons (3,277 t) (standard) 3,356 long tons (3,410 t)
Length:	255 ft 1 in (77.75 m)
Beam:	50 ft (15.2 m)
Draft:	12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) (mean)
Installed power:	4 × Thornycroft boilers 2,400 ihp (1,800 kW)[5]
Propulsion:	2 × Vertical triple expansion engines 2 × screw propellers[5]
Speed:	12.5 knots (23.2 km/h; 14.4 mph) 12.03 kn (13.84 mph; 22.28 km/h) (Speed on Trial)[5]
Complement:	220 officers and men
Armament:	2 × 12 in (300 mm) breech-loading rifles (1×2) 4 × 4 in (100 mm) guns (4×1) 2 × 6-pounder guns[5]
Armor:	Harvey armor Side belt: 5–11 in (130–280 mm) Barbette: 9–11 in (230–280 mm) Gun turret: 9–10 in (230–250 mm) Conning tower: 7.5 in (190 mm)

The second USS Arkansas, a single-turreted "New Navy" monitor and one of the last monitors built for the United States Navy, was laid down 14 November 1899 by the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company; launched 10 November 1900; commissioned on 28 October 1902, Commander Charles Edward Vreeland in command.

Service history

After shakedown, Arkansas’ first duty was with the U.S. Naval Academy as an instruction and cruise ship for midshipmen. She was then assigned to the Coast Squadron, North Atlantic Fleet, and cruised off the east coast, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the West Indies. She continued to make summer practice cruises with midshipmen, however, and in 1906 was again assigned to the Naval Academy for instructional purposes.

Renamed Ozark, 2 March 1909, she was assigned to the District of Columbia Naval Militia from 26 June 1910 to 6 March 1913. Later that month she began refitting in Norfolk, Virginia as a submarine tender and began duties as a tender 12 July. After special duty in Mexican waters during most of 1914, she participated in Atlantic Fleet maneuvers in 1915 and operated in the Chesapeake Bay area in 1916.

World War I

Ozark was ordered to SubDiv 6, Atlantic Fleet, 6 April 1917 and soon proceeded to Tampico, Mexico where she cruised off the coast protecting American and Allied interests. She sailed for New Orleans, 18 December 1918 after which she cruised off Key West, Central America and the Panama Canal Zone.

Post War

She returned to Hampton Roads 23 June 1919 and decommissioned in Philadelphia, 20 August. Ozark was sold, 26 January 1922.

References

1. "Ships' Data, U. S. Naval Vessels, 1911-". US Naval Department. 1 January 1914. p. 53. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
2. "Table 21 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set (U.S. Government Printing Office): 769. 1921.
3. Ford, Jonathan (29 May 2008). "USS Arkansas (M-7)". The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. The Central Arkansas Library System. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
4. "M-7 USS ARKANSAS". NavSource Online: Battleship Photo Archive. NavSource. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
5. "Ships' Data, U. S. Naval Vessels, 1911-". US Naval Department. 1 January 1914. p. 50. Retrieved 29 August 2015.

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• World Battleships List: US "New Navy" Monitors