USS Chicago, a 4500-ton protected cruiser, was built at Chester, Pennsylvania. Commissioned in April 1889, she served in the North and South Atlantic and in European waters until 1904, when she was sent to the Pacific. Returning to the east coast in 1908, Chicago was used mainly as a training ship for the next nine years. In 1917, she became flagship of the Atlantic Submarine Force, remaining in that role through World War I. She went to the Pacific in 1919 and soon was assigned to support submarines at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Chicago was classified as CA-14 in 1920, decommissioned in September 1923, but remained at Pearl Harbor as a barracks ship under the classification IX-5. Renamed Alton in 1928, she was sold in May 1936. The following July, the old cruiser foundered while under tow from Hawaii to California.