From: Dictionary of American Fighting Ships

A river formed by the joining of the Tallahatchie and Yalobusha Rivers in Leflore County in northwestern Mississippi. It winds southward across flat, fertile farm land and prime forested acreage before emptying into the Mississippi River at Vicksburg.

(Mon: dp. 1,175; 1. 225'; b. 45'; dr. 6'; s. 9 k.; a. 2 11" D. sb.; cl. Casco)

Yazoo-a single-turreted, twin-screw monitor-was laid down in March 1863 by Merrick & Sons, Philadelphia, Pa., launched on 8 May 1865; and completed on 15 December 1865

Yazoo was a Casco class monitor intended for service in the shallow bays, sounds, rivers, and inlets of the Confederacy. These warships sacrificed armor plate for a shallow draft and were fitted with a ballast compartment designed to enable them to ride exceptionally low in the water during battle. However, design changes and contract disputes delayed the first launching of a ship of the class until the spring of 1864. It was then discovered that the monitors had only three inches freeboard, even without turret, guns, and stores.

As a consequence of this revelation, the Navy Department ordered the contractor on 24 June 1864 to raise the deck of Yazoo 22 inches to give her sufficient freeboard. The ship was laid up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 20 December 1865, and she saw no commissioned service

Her name was twice changed: first to Tartar on 15 June 1869 and then back to Yazoo on 10 August 1869. Yazoo was sold at Philadelphia on 5 September 1874 to A. Purvis & Son.