text: At the time of commissioning, Scientific American compared Olympia to the similar British s and the Chilean  and found that the American ship held a "great superiority" over the British ships. While the Eclipses had  of coal, compared to Olympias , the latter had nearly double the horsepower (making the ship faster), more armor, and a heavier armament on a displacement that was only  greater than the other.
  Characteristics
  The ship is  in overall length, has a beam of  and a draft of . Her design displacement was , with a full combat load of up to  displacement. The ship is powered by a pair of vertical triple expansion engines, each supplied with steam from three coal-fired cylindrical boilers. Her engines were rated at  with a top speed of , though on trials she achieved  and a top speed of .
  Olympias crew numbered between 411 and 447 officers and enlisted.
  Armament
  Olympia is armed with a variety of weapons. The primary armament was four /35 caliber guns in two twin Mark 6 gun turrets, one forward and one aft of the superstructure. These guns could fire  projectiles, either armor-piercing or high explosive, at a muzzle velocity of  per second. The Mark 6 turret was designed for depression of the guns to −4° and elevation to 13°. By 1916, the turrets and guns were considered woefully obsolete, and were subsequently removed and replaced with open gun platforms, each with a single 4"/40. These guns were then later replaced with 5"/51-caliber guns in 1917.