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

They carried their main battery of four 240 mm (9.4 in) guns in open barbettes, two forward side-by-side and the other two aft on the nautical.

Her return to France proved to be short-lived, as the Boxer Uprising in Qing China prompted the French to send reinforcements to help suppress the rebellion.

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, Vauban and Duguesclin adopted composite steel and iron construction for their hulls.

As was typical for French ironclads of the period, her hull featured a pronounced tumblehome shape and a ram bow.

[6][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.

During this period, the unit was enlarged and renamed the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant Squadron,[5] and Vauban frequently returned home for training exercises.

In 1890, Vauban served in the 3rd Division of the Mediterranean Squadron as the flagship of Rear Admiral O'Neill, along with her sister ship Duguesclin and the ironclad Bayard.

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 Amiral Duperré and the rest of the Mediterranean Fleet returned to Toulon.

During the maneuvers, a number of French ships suffered machinery problems, including Vauban, which had ball bearings in her propulsion system become overheated, forcing her to temporarily withdraw from operations.

[5] By 1895, the two Vauban-class ironclads had been removed from the Reserve Division altogether, and were no longer kept in service, their place having been taken by new, purpose-built armored cruisers.

[15] As the Boxer Uprising in Qing China worsened in 1900, French naval activities in the region increased and the unit was reinforced with the ironclad Redoutable and the protected cruiser Guichen.

[17] While cruising off Nagasaki, Japan, in September 1900, Vauban suffered an accidental shell explosion in her forward magazine, wounding five men.