USS Ozark (BM-7)(Monitor-7), named for an Indian tribe of the Quapaw confederacy living in Missouri and Arkansas, was the second ship in the United States Navy to be so named. The vessel was an Arkansas class single-turreted "New Navy" monitor and was one of the last monitors built for the United States Navy...although the navies of Great Britain and Italy built and used monitors for shore bombardment during the First World War, and the Royal Navy used them during the Second World War, as well. Arkansas class monitors mounted the most modern heavy weapons in the Navy at the time they were constructed...12-inch/40 caliber guns. The Arkansas class did not see any combat during the First World War. However, their final employment during that conflict was that of submarine tender...for which their low freeboard hulls made them well suited. It is significant to note, however, that in the submarine tender role, they were ministering to the needs of a type of craft which had logically replaced the monitor type of ship...as both were envisioned and designed to combine heavy striking power with concealment and the presentation of a negligable target area.

United States Coast Defense Monitor USS Ozark (BM-7) was laid down on 14 November 1899 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Newport News, Virginia. The warship was launched on 10 November 1900...and commissioned as USS Arkansas on 28 October 1902 with Commander C. E. Vreeland in command.

When commissioned, USS Arkansas was 255 feet in length overall, had an extreme beam of 50 feet, displaced 3,225 tons of sea water, and, at that weight, had a mean draft of 12 feet 6 inches. Ship's compliment was 220 officers and enlisted men. Armament included two 12-inch/40 caliber guns in a single turret, four 4-inch guns, one 3-inch gun, two 6-pounder guns, and two 1-pounder guns. Eleven-inch-thick Krupp armor plate protected the turret and the sides of the hull. Bunkerage was provided for 304 tons of coal. The steam engine could develop 2,400 horsepower that could drive the ship at 12 knots at speed.

After shakedown, the monitor's first duty was with the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland...as an instruction and cruise ship for midshipmen. The warship was then assigned to the Coast Squadron of the North Atlantic Fleet...and cruised off the east coast of the United States, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the West Indies. USS Arkansas continued to make summer practice cruises with the "Middies," however, and, in 1906, was again assigned to the Naval Academy for instructional purposes.

On 2 March 1909, USS Arkansas was renamed USS Ozark in order to release the state name for assignment to a battleship that was to be laid down the following year at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, New Jersey.

USS Ozark was then assigned to the District of Columbia Naval Militia from 26 June 1910 to 6 March 1913. During the latter part of March 1913, the monitor began refitting and conversion work in Norfolk, Virginia, to prepare the vessel for her new role as a submarine tender. The ship was ready for submarine tending duties on 12 July 1913.

During the latter part of 1913, the five C class submarines...USS C-1 (SS-9), USS C-2 (SS-13), USS C-3 (SS-14), USS C-4 (SS-15), and USS C-5 (SS-16) ... under the overall command of a Lieutenant Junior Grade officer, successfully completed the longest cruise made up to that time by United States submarines operating under their own power. Accompanied by several surface ships, including submarine tender USS Ozark, the submarines completed a 700-mile passage between Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Cristobal, Panama Canal Zone, Panama...without serious engineering mishap.

The First World War commenced in Europe in 1914. The United States declared its neutrality at that time.

After special duty in Mexican waters during most of 1914, the submarine tender participated in Atlantic Fleet maneuvers during 1915 and operated in the Chesapeake Bay in 1916.

On 6 April 1917, the United States became an active participant in the First World War on the side of the Allies. On that date, USS Ozark was ordered to tend the submarines of Submarine Division 6 in the Atlantic Fleet; then soon proceeded to Tampico, Mexico. There, she cruised off that Central American coastal area protecting American and Allied interests.

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918, the fighting portion of the First World War terminated when the Armistice went into effect at that time.

USS Ozark steamed toward New Orleans, Louisiana, on 18 December 1918...after which she cruised off the Florida Keys, Central America, and the Panama Canal Zone.

The ship arrived at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 23 June 1919. Shortly thereafter, the vessel transited to the City of Brotherly Love.

USS Ozark decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 20 August 1919.

The ship was sold to commercial interests on 26 January 1922.