Ozark II (Monitor No. 7)
(BM-7; dp. 3,225; l. 255'; b. 50'; dr. 12'6" (mean); s. 12 k.; cpl. 220; a. 2 12", assorted 4" and 6-pdrs.; cl. Arkansas)
An Indian tribe of the Quapaw confederacy living in Missouri and Arkansas.
II
The second Ozark, a single-turreted "New Navy" monitor and one of the last monitors built for the U.S. Navy, was laid down 14 November 1899 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co.; launched 10 November 1900; commissioned as Arkansas 28 October 1902, Comdr. C. E. Vreeland in command.
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 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.
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. She returned to Hampton Roads 23 June 1919 and decommissioned in Philadelphia 20 August. Ozark was sold 26 January 1922.
