High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! USS Yuma, a single-turreted, twin-screw monitor, was laid down at Cincinnati, OH, by Alexander Swift and Co. and launched on 30 May 1865. A Casco-class, light-draft monitor, she was intended for service in the shallow bays, rivers, and inlets of the Confederacy. These warships sacrificed armor plate for a shallow draft and were fitted with a ballast compartment designed to lower them in the water during battle.