The Amiral Baudin class was designed in response to Italian naval expansion, and carried a main battery of three 370 mm (14.6 in) guns all mounted in open barbettes on the centerline.

After returning to service, she was transferred to the Northern Squadron, based in the English Channel, where the routine of peacetime training maneuvers continued.

Amiral Baudin and Formidable were designed in the late 1870s as part of a naval construction program that began under the post-Franco-Prussian War fleet plan of 1872.

The Italian vessels carried significantly larger guns than Amiral Duperré, which prompted calls from the Chamber of Deputies to increase the caliber of future ship armament.

[2] The ship was protected with a combination of mild steel and compound armor; her belt was 356 to 559 mm (14 to 22 in) thick and extended for the entire length of the hull.

The ship was finally placed in full commission on 21 January 1889, and she departed for Toulon on 5 February, arriving there ten days later.

She took part in the annual fleet maneuvers that year in company with her division-mates and six other ironclads, along with numerous smaller craft.

Amiral Baudin served as part of the simulated enemy force during the maneuvers, which lasted from 30 June to 6 July.

The exercises began four days later and concluded on 25 July, after which Amiral Baudin and the rest of the Mediterranean Fleet returned to Toulon.

[5] During the fleet maneuvers of 1891, which began on 23 June, Amiral Baudin was transferred to the 2nd Division, 1st Squadron along with Redoutable and the ironclad Hoche.

[7] Beginning on 24 October, the ship underwent a minor refit that included the alteration of her secondary battery; work lasted until 1 July 1893.

[8] She remained in the 1st Squadron in 1895, by which time it had been reduced in size to Amiral Baudin, Formidable, the three Marceaus, Courbet, and Dévastation.

[10] On 13 November, while the fleet was steaming into Hyères, Formidable turned too widely and led the line of ironclads into shallow water.

[14] Work on the ship was completed the next year, in time for Amiral Baudin to take part in the 1898 maneuvers, which lasted from 5 to 25 July.

[15] Later that year, she was transferred to the Northern Squadron in the English Channel, along with her sister, Amiral Duperré, Dévastation, Courbet, and Redoutable, since more modern pre-dreadnought battleships built in the mid-1890s had entered service by that time.

[18] On 23 November, Amiral Baudin collided with the old cruiser D'Estaing, which had recently returned from a deployment to Madagascar; both vessels were damaged in the accident.

The ships conducted a simulated bombardment of the port, neutralized the coastal defenses, and put some 6,000 men ashore.