The first USS Nevada, a monitor, was ordered on 4 May 1898. She was awarded to the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine on 19 October 1898[1] and laid down as Connecticut, 17 April 1899. Connecticut was launched 24 November 1900; sponsored by Miss Grace Boutelle; renamed Nevada, January 1901; and commissioned on 5 March 1903, CommanderThomas B. Howard in command.[2] The total cost for the hull, machinery, armor and armament was $1,851,313.22.[3]
Nevada was renamed Tonopah in 1909 to free up the name for a new battleship.
The Arkansas-class monitors had been designed to combine a heavy striking power with easy concealment and negligible target area. They had a displacement of 3,225 long tons (3,277 t; 3,612 short tons), measured 255 feet 1 inch (77.75 m) in overall length, with a beam of 50 feet 1 inch (15.27 m) and a draft of 12 feet 6 inches (3.81 m). She was manned by a total crew of 13 officers and 209 men.[4][5]