text: During the contract negotiations, Union Iron Works was granted permission to lengthen the vessel by , at no extra cost, to accommodate the propulsion system. The contract was signed on July 10, 1890, the keel laid on June 17, 1891, and the ship was launched on November 5, 1892. However, delays in the delivery of components, including the new Harvey steel armor, slowed completion. The last one-pounder gun was not delivered until December 1894.
  Union Iron Works conducted the first round of trials on November 3, 1893; on a  run, the ship achieved a speed of . Upon return to harbor, however, it was discovered that the keel had been fouled by sea grass, which required dry-docking to fix.
  By December 11, the work had been completed and she was dispatched from San Francisco to Santa Barbara for an official speed trial. Once in the harbor, heavy fog delayed the ship for four days. On the 15th, Olympia sailed into the Santa Barbara Channel, the "chosen race-track for California-built cruisers," and began a four-hour time trial. According to the navy, she had sustained an average speed of , though she reached up to —both well above the contract requirement of .
  While returning to San Francisco, Olympia participated in eight experiments that tested various combinations of steering a ship by rudder and propellers. The new cruiser was ultimately commissioned on February 5, 1895. For several months afterwards, she was the largest ship ever built on the western coast of the US, until surpassed by the battleship .