View source for USS Ozark (1863)

{{Short description|American river monitor}}
{{other ships|USS Ozark}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= USS Ozark (1864-1865) - NH 61472.jpg
|Ship caption= ''Ozark'' serving in the [[Mississippi River Squadron]] in 1864–65
}}
{{Infobox ship class overview
|Name=
|Builders=
|Operators={{navy|United States}}
|Class before={{sclass|Neosho|monitor|4}}
|Class after={{sclass|Milwaukee|monitor|4}}
|Built range=
|Total ships completed=1
|Total ships scrapped=1
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1861}}
|Ship name=USS ''Ozark''
|Ship namesake=The Ozark Tribe of the [[Quapaw]] Indians
|Ship awarded=14 May 1862
|Ship builder=George C. Bestor
|Ship laid down=1862
|Ship launched= 18 February 1863
|Ship commissioned= 18 February 1864
|Ship decommissioned= 24 July 1865
|Ship original cost=About $215,000
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=
|Ship motto=
|Ship nickname=
|Ship fate=Sold, 29 November 1865
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship displacement=
|Ship tons burthen=578 [[Builder's Old Measurement|bm]]
|Ship depth of hold={{convert|7|ft|4|in|m|1|abbr=on}} 
|Ship length={{convert|180|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} 
|Ship beam={{convert|50|ft|m|1|abbr=on}} 
|Ship draft={{convert|5|ft|m|1|abbr=on}}
|Ship power=4 × [[boiler (steam generator)|boilers]]
|Ship propulsion=*4 × Shafts
*2 × 2-cylinder [[Marine steam engine|steam engines]]
|Ship speed={{convert|9|mph|lk=in}}
|Ship range=
|Ship complement=120 
|Ship armament=*1 × 2 - {{convert|11|in|mm|adj=on|0}} [[smoothbore]] [[Dahlgren gun]]s
*1 × 1 - {{convert|10|in|mm|adj=on|0}} Dahlgren guns
*3 × 1 - {{convert|9|in|mm|adj=on|0}} Dahlgren guns 
|Ship armor=*[[Gun turret]]: {{convert|6|in|mm|abbr=on|0}}
*Side: {{convert|2.25|-|2.5|in|mm|abbr=on}}
*[[Deck (ship)|Deck]]: {{convert|1|in|mm|abbr=on}} 
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''USS ''Ozark''''' was a single-turreted [[river monitor]] built for the [[United States Navy]] during the [[American Civil War]]. The ship served in the [[Mississippi River Squadron]] during the war, and participated in the [[Red River Campaign]] shortly after she was commissioned in early 1864. ''Ozark'' patrolled the [[Mississippi River]] and its tributaries after the end of the campaign for the rest of the war. She was decommissioned after the war and sold in late 1865.

The ship's activities or owner are not known after her sale, but ''Ozark'' transported Federal troops and [[New Orleans]] police attempting to apprehend the [[White supremacy|white supremacists]] who killed numerous [[Black people|blacks]] during the [[Colfax Massacre]] in 1873. She ferried witnesses back and forth to their homes on the [[Red River of the South|Red River]] during the subsequent trials in 1874. Her ultimate fate is unknown.

==Description==
The ship was {{convert|180|ft|m|1}} [[length overall|long overall]] and had a [[Beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{convert|50|ft|m|1}}.<ref name=s9>Silverstone, p. 111</ref> She had a [[Glossary of nautical terms (A-L)#D|depth of hold]] of {{convert|7|ft|4|in|m|1}}<ref name=c4>Canney, p. 110</ref> and a draft of six feet. ''Ozark'' had a tonnage of 578 [[Builder's Old Measurement|tons burthen]].<ref name=s9/>

She was powered by a pair of two-cylinder [[Marine steam engine|steam engines]],<ref name=s9/> each driving two four-bladed, {{convert|7|ft|m|1|adj=on}} propellers, using steam generated by four [[boiler (steam generator)|boilers]]. The engines were designed to reach a top speed of {{convert|9|mph|lk=in}}. They had a [[bore (engine)|bore]] of {{convert|15|in|mm|0}} and a [[stroke (engine)|stroke]] of {{convert|24|in|mm|0}}.<ref name=c4/> ''Ozark'' could carry about {{convert|100|LT|t|0}} of coal. All of the machinery was built by the Franklin Foundry of [[St. Louis]], Missouri.<ref name=w1/>

The ship was fitted with three [[rudder]]s,<ref name=c01>Canney, pp. 110–11</ref> and the armored pilothouse was mounted on top of the gun turret.<ref name=w1/> The officers' [[stateroom]]s were built on deck out of light pine, and a [[Deck (ship)#Hurricane deck|hurricane deck]] was positioned between the turret and the deckhouse, between the two [[funnel (ship)|funnel]]s. The hull was subdivided by three transverse and three longitudinal watertight [[bulkhead (partition)|bulkhead]]s.<ref name=c01/>

''Ozark''{{'}}s main armament initially consisted of two [[smoothbore]], [[muzzle-loading]] {{convert|11|in|mm|adj=on|0}} [[Dahlgren gun]]s mounted in a twin-gun turret forward.<ref name=s9/> The 11-inch gun weighed {{convert|16000|lb}} and could fire a {{convert|136|lb|1|adj=on}} shell up to a range of {{convert|1710|yd}} at +5° elevation.<ref>Olmstead, et al, pp. 90, 94</ref> By July 1864, her armament had been reinforced by the addition of one {{convert|10|in|mm|adj=on|0}} Dahlgren gun and three {{convert|9|in|mm|adj=on|0}} Dahlgrens, all on [[pivot gun|pivot mounts]]. One of these guns was mounted at the bow, another at the stern and the two others were abreast the deckhouse, one on each [[Broadside (naval)|broadside]].<ref name=c1>Canney, p. 111</ref> The 10-inch Dahlgren weighed {{convert|12500|lb}} and could fire a {{convert|103|lb|1|adj=on}} shell up to a range of {{convert|3000|yd}} at +19° elevation. The nine-inch gun weighed {{convert|9200|lb}} and could fire a {{convert|72.5|lb|1|adj=on}} shell to a range of {{convert|3357|yd}} at an elevation of +15°.<ref>Olmstead, et al, pp. 87–88</ref> ''Ozark'' was chosen as the testbed for an experimental "underwater battery" that consisted of a nine-inch Dahlgren gun firing through a pipe in the side of the hull below the waterline. Cost overruns caused the project to be cancelled in January 1863 before it could be tested.<ref name=c1/>

The cylindrical [[John Ericsson|Ericsson]]-style turret was armored with six layers of [[wrought iron]] {{convert|1|in|adj=on}} plates. The forward {{convert|40|ft|m|1}} of the hull was protected by two layers of {{convert|1.25|in|mm|adj=on}} plates that extended {{convert|1|ft|m|1}} below the [[waterline]]. Aft of the bow section, the hull's armor consisted of two layers of {{convert|1.125|in|mm|adj=on}} plates. The ship's [[deck (ship)|deck]] was protected by iron plates one inch thick.<ref name=c4/>

==Construction and service==
[[File:Ozark, Gunboat.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.5|Engraving of USS ''Ozark'']]
The contract for ''Ozark'', the first ship of that name in the United States Navy and named for the Ozark Tribe of the [[Quapaw]] Indians,<ref name="DANFS">''Ozark''</ref> was awarded to George C. Bestor on 14 May 1862. He subcontracted the ship's construction to Hambleton, Collier & Co. at their Mound City Marine Ways shipyard in [[Mound City, Illinois]]. ''Ozark'' was [[Keel laying|laid down]] in 1862 and [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 18 February 1863. She was towed to St. Louis for [[fitting out]] and arrived there on 27 February.<ref name=w1>Webber, p. 781</ref> ''Ozark'' [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 18 February 1864,<ref name=s9/> with [[Lieutenant|Acting Volunteer Lieutenant]] George W. Brown in command.<ref name="DANFS"/> She cost about $215,000.<ref name=w1/>
 
''Ozark'' spent her entire [[Union Navy]] career serving in the Mississippi River Squadron. From 12 March to 22 May 1864, she took part in the [[Rear admiral|Rear Admiral]] [[David Dixon Porter|David Porter's]] Red River Expedition to [[Alexandria, Louisiana]]. During the retreat down the Red River, ''Ozark'' was trapped above the falls at Alexandria, along with most of the other ironclads of the Mississippi Squadron, when the river's water level unexpectedly began to fall. Two temporary dams, known as [[Bailey's Dam]], had to be built in April–May to raise the water level high enough to allow the ironclads to proceed downstream.<ref>Konstam, p. 21</ref> After the end of the campaign, ''Ozark'' was assigned to the Third District, patrolling the Mississippi River between [[Morganza, Louisiana]] and [[Fort Adams, Mississippi]].<ref>Joiner, p. 172</ref> Following the end of the war, she was decommissioned at Mound City on 24 July 1865 and was sold 29 November.<ref name="DANFS"/>

The identity of her purchaser is not known, nor are her activities after her sale, but ''Ozark'' was still in service in late 1873 and based at [[New Orleans]]. Louisiana governor [[William Pitt Kellogg]] used the ship to transport 35 soldiers of the [[19th Infantry Regiment (United States)|19th Infantry Regiment]] and 25 mounted members of the [[New Orleans Metropolitan Police]] to [[Colfax, Louisiana]] in October to apprehend the perpetrators of the [[Colfax Massacre]].<ref>Keith, pp. 122–24</ref> Due to widespread resistance by local whites, only a few men were arrested and transported to New Orleans by ''Ozark'' to stand trial in December. Prosecution witnesses were transported and housed in the ship during the trials in February–March 1874 to protect them from threats made by white supremacists. Nothing further is known about the ''Ozark''{{'}}s activities or fate.<ref>Keith, pp. 122–24, 131, 137</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==
{{Portal|American Civil War}}
{{commons category|USS Ozark (ship, 1863)}}
*{{cite book|last=Canney|first=Donald L.|title=The Old Steam Navy: The Ironclads, 1842–1885|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|date=1993|volume=2|isbn=0-87021-586-8}}
*{{cite book|last=Joiner|first=Gary D.|title=Mr. Lincoln's Brown Water Navy: The Mississippi Squadron|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|location=Lanham, Maryland|date=2007|isbn=978-0-7425-5098-8}}
*{{cite book|last=Keith|first=LeeAnna|title=The Colfax Massacre: The Untold Story of Black Power, White Terror, and the Death of Reconstruction|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York}}
* {{cite book|last=Konstam|first=Angus|title=Union River Ironclad 1861-65|year=2002|publisher=Osprey|location=Oxford, England|series=New Vanguard|volume=56|isbn=1-84176-444-2}}
* {{cite book|last1=Olmstead|first1=Edwin|last2=Stark|first2=Wayne E.|last3=Tucker|first3=Spencer C.|title=The Big Guns: Civil War Siege, Seacoast, and Naval Cannon|publisher=Museum Restoration Service|location=Alexandria Bay, New York|year=1997|isbn=0-88855-012-X}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/o5/ozark-i.htm|title=''Ozark''|work=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships|publisher=[[Naval History & Heritage Command]] (NH&HC)|access-date=25 January 2013}}
* {{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Civil War Navies 1855-1883|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|year=2006|series=The U.S. Navy Warship Series|isbn=0-415-97870-X}}
*{{cite book|last=Webber|first=Richard H., Lt.|editor=James L. Mooney|title=Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships|url=http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/monitors/river.txt|volume=III: Historical sketches, Letters G-K, appendices 1-6|year=1968|publisher=Government Printing Office|location=Washington, D. C.|pages=781–85|chapter=Appendix 2: Monitors: River Monitors}}

===Further reading===
* {{cite book |last=Knox |first=Thomas Wallace |title=The life of Robert Fulton and a history of steam navigation |author-link=Thomas W. Knox |publisher=New York : G.P. Putnam |year=1900 |page=234 |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofrobertfult00knox/page/n6 |ref=knox}}

{{Union ironclads}}

{{Good article}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ozark}}
[[Category:Monitors of the United States Navy]]
[[Category:Ships of the Union Navy]]
[[Category:Ships built in Mound City, Illinois]]
[[Category:1863 ships]]
[[Category:Colfax, Louisiana]]