Triomphante (Triumphant) was the third and last ship of the La Galissonnière class of wooden-hulled, armored corvettes built for the French Navy during the 1870s.

Triomphante and her sister ship Victorieuse were modified by Constructor Sabattier who reduced the number of screws from two to one to improve their sailing qualities by reducing the drag from the stationary propellers, added an 194-millimeter (7.6 in) bow chaser under the forecastle and increased the caliber and number of the secondary armament.

[3] During sea trials her engine produced 2,214 indicated horsepower (1,651 kW) and the ship reached 12.75 knots (23.61 km/h; 14.67 mph).

The other two 240-millimeter guns were mounted in barbettes on the upper deck, sponsoned out over the sides of the ship, just forward of the funnel.

[5] The La Galissonnière-class ships had a complete 150-millimeter (5.9 in) wrought iron waterline belt, approximately 2.4 meters (7.9 ft)[1] high laid over 650 millimeters (26 in) of wood.

[10] The ship was commissioned as the flagship of the Pacific Squadron on 17 October 1880 under the command of Rear Admiral Brossard du Corbigny.

[9] Triomphante, and her half-sister La Galissonnière, were assigned to the Far East Squadron in 1884, under the command of Vice Admiral Amédée Courbet, and participated in several actions during the Sino-French War of 1884–85.

[11] Both ships fought in the Battle of Fuzhou, Triomphante sinking the wooden gunboat Zhenwei,[12] and destroying coastal defenses defending the Min River.

[11] They supplied landing parties during the Battle of Tamsui in October 1884, but they were forced to retreat by Chinese troops, albeit at only a few casualties (5 killed and 10 wounded).