Construction was slow, partially for lack of labor, and the ships were not completed until December 1865, after the war was over.

The Marietta-class monitors were part of a large program of armored ships ordered after the Battle of Hampton Roads caused the navy to favor monitors over the previous casemate ironclads of the City class.

[1] The original plans for the Marietta-class ships resembled the river monitor USS Ozark in many ways.

[2] The ships had four steam boilers powering two western steamboat-type engines that drove a single propeller.

The US government allocated $188,000 each for the construction of Marietta and Sandusky, but the final cost rose to $235,039 after charges for extra work.

Remaining at Mound City, Marietta was sold 12 April 1873 to David Campbell"[7] for $16,000.