[4] The Arkansas-class monitors had been designed to combine a heavy striking power with easy concealment and negligible target area.

[5] Arkansas was powered by two vertical triple expansion engines driving two screw propellers with steam generated by four Thornycroft boilers.

Less than a month after the ships were successfully contracted, reports were received from Rear Admiral William T. Sampson that sharply criticized the Monitors under his command in the lead-up to and during the Bombardment of San Juan.

[13][14] In November, Secretary of the Navy John D. Long responded to the criticism by ordering all construction of the monitors to be halted while new changes were to be decided upon.

In the end, very few changes would actually be made to the original designs with the biggest being a relatively slight increase in displacement and coal capacity, as well as lengthening the ship by another 30 feet.

[21][22][23] Her sister ships, Florida, Wyoming, and Connecticut (later Nevada), had all begun being built much earlier, though the construction on these three would also be slow as all companies contracted had many other projects.

Newport News Shipbuilding in particular had many ships in the process of being built, such as the pre-dreadnought battleships Kearsarge, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri, as well as six commercial vessels.

[29][30][31] Aside from a strike at the Newport News Shipyard in the summer, which resulted in extra guards being posted around the various ships in construction, including Arkansas, work would continue unabated for another year.

[34][35] Her building test took place on July 17, in which she was taken to the outskirts of the Virginia Capes for a few hours, and again all machinery was reported as working and the ship managed a speed slightly higher than the required 11+1⁄2 knots.

[45][46] On October 28, 1902, Arkansas was officially commissioned into the United States Navy after a small ceremony in the afternoon, which ended with the American Flag being raised over the ship.

In April 1914, Ozark participated in the United States occupation of Mexico, during the "Tampico Affair", which later made her sailors eligible for the Mexican Service Medal.

[2] Ozark was ordered to SubDiv 6, Atlantic Fleet, 6 April 1917 and soon proceeded back to Tampico, Mexico where she cruised off the coast protecting American and Allied shipping interests.