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.

[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] Indomptable 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 early 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.

Her completed hull was launched on 18 September 1883, after which fitting-out work was carried out, which included the installation of her propulsion machinery between 3 June 1884 and 20 February 1885.

[8] She participated in the fleet's training exercises later that year, during which she was damaged by a gale, forcing her to anchor off Hyères to shelter from the storm.

Indomptable, along with Amiral Duperré and the ironclads Courbet and Colbert, was assigned to escort a convoy of four simulated troopships on a round trip between Toulon and Algiers, while a squadron of French cruisers and torpedo boats was tasked with interception.

The commander of the troopship convoy decided to use bad weather to make the initial crossing, as it would prevent the torpedo boats in the interception force from putting to sea.

During the passage however, Indomptable was badly swamped by water, her captain signalling the squadron commander that his ship's barbettes were flooded and she was unable to keep station; the vessel was consequently detached to stop at Hyères before re-joining the fleet at Algiers.

[8] 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.

[15] She remained in the unit the following year, by which time the Reserve Squadron included Terrible, Caïman, Richelieu, and Amiral Duperré.

[18] Similar modernization of Indomptable began later that year, with new main and secondary guns installed and two torpedo tubes removed,[3] the work being completed in 1901.

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

She was struck from the naval register on 3 August 1910 and moved to the Arsenal de Rochefort, where she was used as a mooring hulk for the several years.