Amiral Baudin-class ironclad

Formidable in Algiers in 1899
Class overview
Name	Amiral Baudin class
Operators	French Navy
Preceded by	Terrible class
Succeeded by	Hoche
Built	1879–1889
In service	1888–1903
Completed	2
Retired	2
General characteristics
Class and type	Barbette ship
Displacement	11,720 long tons (11,910 t)
Length	101.4 m (332 ft 8 in) lwl
Beam	21.34 m (70 ft)
Draft	8.46 m (27 ft 9 in)
Installed power	12 × fire-tube boilers 8,400 indicated horsepower (6,300 kW)
Propulsion	2 × compound steam engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement	625
Armament	3 × 370 mm (14.6 in) Modèle 1875 guns 4 × 163 mm (6.4 in) Modèle 1884 guns 8 × 138 mm (5.4 in) Modèle 1881 guns 4 × 47 mm (1.9 in) guns 1 × 47 mm Hotchkiss revolver cannon 14 × 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon 6 × 381 mm (15.0 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt: 356 to 559 mm (14 to 22 in) Conning tower: 79 to 119 mm (3.1 to 4.7 in) Barbettes: 406 mm (16 in)

The Amiral Baudin class was a type of ironclad barbette ship of the French Navy built in the late 1870s and late 1880s. The class comprised two ships: Amiral Baudin and Formidable. After the Italian Navy began building a series of very large ironclads in the mid-1870s, public pressure on the French naval command to respond in kind prompted the design for the Amiral Baudin class. New, very large guns were developed to counter the weapons carried by the Italian ships; Amiral Baudin and Formidable were equipped with a main battery of three 370 mm (14.6 in) guns in three open barbettes, all on the centerline. Begun in 1879, work on the ships proceeded slowly and they were not finished until 1888–1889, shortly before the first pre-dreadnought battleships began to be built, which rendered older ironclads like the Amiral Baudin class obsolete.

Amiral Baudin and Formidable served with the Mediterranean Fleet for the bulk of their active careers, Formidable serving as its flagship early in her career. In 1895, both ships were involved in a grounding accident caused by Formidable's failure to conform to the fleet commander's instructions. Both ships were modernized between 1896 and 1898, losing their amidships barbette, which was replaced with an armored battery for new quick-firing guns, among other changes. Both ships were transferred to the Northern Squadron after returning to service, as newer pre-dreadnoughts had entered service by that point, taking their place in the more strategically important Mediterranean Fleet. Both ships were withdrawn from service by 1903, and Amiral Baudin was hulked in 1909. Formidable was broken up two years later, but Amiral Baudin's fate is unknown.