While being towed to the ship breakers in Amsterdam in 1911, Richelieu was caught in a storm in the Bay of Biscay and had to be cast loose from her tugboat.

Richelieu was designed by Henri Dupuy de Lôme as an improved version of the Océan-class ironclads.

She had two Indret 3-cylinder horizontal return connecting rod compound steam engines, each driving a single propeller.

[1] On sea trials the engines produced 4,600 indicated horsepower (3,400 kW) and Richelieu reached 13.2 knots (24.4 km/h; 15.2 mph).

[3] While the exact reason for such prolonged construction time is not known, it was probably due to financial pressures caused by slashing of French Navy's budget which was cut after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 coupled with the outdated work practices of the French dockyards at the time, which were not suitable for the Industrial Age.

[6] The ship began her sea trials on 12 April 1875, but did not begin her service with the Mediterranean Squadron, of which she became flagship, until 10 February 1876.

[3] While in Toulon harbor on 29 December 1880, Richelieu caught fire and had to be scuttled to prevent her magazines from exploding.

In order to salvage her, all accessible guns, ammunition, masts, armor and movable decks were removed and the equivalent weight was placed in the ship's holds to lower her center of gravity.

360 empty casks and 34 cubic meters (1,200 cu ft) of cork were attached to the starboard side to prevent the ship from rolling too far the other way.

After an hour and a half of lifting, Richelieu had been righted to a 45° angle; a subsequent effort completed the job.

[7] In 1885 Richelieu tested Bullivant torpedo nets, but they reduced her speed to a maximum of 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) and as a result were not considered successful.

She was under tow in the Bay of Biscay, having left the Mediterranean for the first time in her existence, when a storm caused the tugboat to cast her loose.