The ships were intended for coastal operations, and as such had a shallow draft and a low freeboard, which greatly hampered their seakeeping and thus reduced their ability to be usefully employed after entering service.

The Terrible class of barbette ships was designed in the late 1870s as part of a naval construction program that began under the post-Franco-Prussian War fleet plan of 1872.

In addition, the oldest generation of French ironclads, built in the early-to-mid 1860s, were in poor condition and necessitated replacement.

The Terribles were based on the Amiral Baudin-class ironclads, but were reduced in size to allow them to operate in shallower waters.

[1] After entering service, the Terrible-class ships were found to have very poor seakeeping as a result of their shallow draft and insufficient freeboard, even in the relatively sheltered waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Navy had little use for the ships, and through the 1880s and 1890s, a series of French naval ministers sought to find a role for the vessels, along with another ten coastal-defense type ironclads built during that period.

[3][5] Caïman was modernized several times during her career, primarily in attempts to correct deficiencies in her design that stemmed from excessive weights.

The first refit took place at Toulon in late 1897, and involved lowering the funnel casings and removing the mainmast in an attempt to reduce weights high in the ship to improve her stability.

She also had twelve new boilers installed, and on trials carried out in November 1897, she reached 4,887 ihp (3,644 kW) for a top speed of 13.38 knots (24.78 km/h; 15.40 mph).

[9] By the early 1890s, Caïman and her sister ships had been assigned to the Reserve Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet, which was based in Toulon.

During this period, the ships were maintained in a state of inactivity with half or two-thirds of their normal crews, only being mobilized for the annual training maneuvers with the rest of the fleet.

[11] During the fleet maneuvers of 1891, which began on 23 June, Caïman was mobilized along with her sisters Indomptable and Terrible and five other ironclads.

She was briefly assigned to the Coastal Defense Division from 1898 to early 1899,[9] by which time the unit consisted of the ironclads Amiral-Tréhouart, Bouvines, Jemmapes, and Valmy.

[9] By 1903, all four of the Terrible-class ironclads had been removed from service, their place in the Reserve Squadron having been taken by the pre-dreadnought battleships that had been built in the 1890s.

[18] In 1906, she returned to the Reserve Squadron in the Mediterranean Fleet for the annual maneuvers, along with Indomptable, Requin, the ironclad Hoche, and the pre-dreadnought battleship Charles Martel.

[19] Caïman was then laid up at Cherbourg later that year, where she remained in reserve until being struck from the naval register on 20 February 1911.