Duguesclin was an ironclad barbette ship built for the French Navy in the late 1870s and 1880s; she was the second and final member of the Vauban class.

Intended for service in the French colonial empire, she was designed as a "station ironclad", which were smaller versions of the first-rate vessels built for the main fleet.

Despite the intention to use her overseas, the ship remained in home waters for the duration of her career, serving with the Mediterranean Squadron from 1888 to 1895, though the last two years were as part of the Reserve Division.

The Vauban 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.

The Vauban class was intended to serve in the second role, and they were based on the high-seas ironclad Amiral Duperré, albeit a scaled-down version.

[1] Unlike their wooden-hulled predecessors of the Bayard class, Duguesclin and Vauban adopted composite steel and iron construction for their hulls.

[5] The ship was protected with wrought iron armor; her belt was 150 to 250 mm (5.9 to 9.8 in) thick and extended for the entire length of the hull.

[8] On 20 March 1889, Duguesclin was placed in full commission for active service for the first time, to be assigned to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant Squadron.

[7] During this period, the ship routinely returned to French waters to take part in annual training exercises with the rest of the fleet.

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.

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

[15] She was instead decommissioned on 1 September 1903 and struck from the naval register on 10 October 1904, before being sold to the Italian ship breaking firm M. Cerrutti of Genoa on 3 August 1905; she was subsequently taken there to be dismantled.