The second USS Charleston (C-2) was a United States Navy protected cruiser — the first US protected cruiser to be built. Lacking experience in building steel cruisers, the design was commissioned from the British company W. Armstrong, Mitchell and Co. of Newcastle, the construction to be by an American shipyard.
She was launched on 19 July 1888 by Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California, sponsored by Mrs. A. S. Smith, and commissioned on 26 December 1889, Captain George C. Remey in command.