USS Atlanta was a protected cruiser and one of the first steel warships of the "New Navy" of the 1880s. In some references she is combined with Boston as the Atlanta class, in others as the Boston class.

Protected cruisers, a type of cruising warship of the late-19th century, gained their description because an armoured deck offered protection for vital machine-spaces from fragments caused by shells exploding above them. Protected cruisers resembled armored cruisers, which had in addition a belt of armour along the sides.