The Terrible class was a group of four ironclad barbette ships built for the French Navy in the late 1870s and early 1880s.

They were built as part of a fleet plan started in 1872 after the Franco-Prussian War and were designed in response to the German Sachsen class of barbette ships.

The Terribles were scaled down versions of the Amiral Baudin class, with one less main gun, though they were of significantly larger caliber.

Because the ships were intended for operations against the German fleet in the shallow Baltic Sea, they had a low draft and freeboard, which greatly hampered their seakeeping and thus reduced their ability to be usefully employed after entering service.

The ships were modernized in the late 1890s, receiving new guns, and in the case of Requin, new engines and boilers and some upgrades to her armor.

By 1877, the Italian fleet under Benedetto Brin had begun building powerful new ironclads of the Duilio and Italia classes, which demanded a French response.

In addition, the oldest generation of French ironclads, wooden-hulled vessels built in the early-to-mid 1860s, were in poor condition and necessitated replacement.

[4] Design work on the new ships began with a proposal from the naval architect Victorin Sabattier, then the Director of Materiel, which the French Naval Minister, Albert Gicquel des Touches, forwarded to the Conseil des travaux (Board of Construction) on 26 June 1877.

The Conseil could not come to an agreement initially, but during a meeting on 7 August, the members noted the very strong armor protection, which was the thickest of any vessel then afloat.

They disliked the use of a single gun mount forward, as it would have a large blind arc astern, and they requested solutions to the problem.

To address the Conseil's concerns, he added a second barbette aft so the ships could engage targets ahead or astern.

But their short belt, which was almost completely submerged under service conditions, did not sufficiently protect them from damage that would be inflicted in a prolonged engagement between two lines of battle.

[1][6] The ships suffered from very poor seakeeping owing to their shallow draft, severely handicapping their usefulness in service.

Their belt extended for the entire length of the hull and was 500 mm (19.7 in) thick in the central portion, where it protected the propulsion machinery and the ammunition magazines.

The other three members of the class received two 274 mm (10.8 in) Modèle 1893/1896 40-caliber guns that were mounted in fully enclosed, balanced turrets.

[13] The insufficient freeboard of the Terrible class significantly reduced their seaworthiness and frequently caused problems for the ships while at sea.

[17] Owing to their poor seakeeping, they proved to be difficult to employ for the French fleet, since they could only be used in sheltered coastal waters.

As a result, their careers were limited, though they did see brief periods of active service in the Mediterranean Fleet and the Northern Squadron, the latter confined to the English Channel.

[14] The ships remained in service only for the annual fleet maneuvers; the rest of the year they were kept in reserve with reduced crews.

[18] Requin spent her early career in the Northern Squadron, and during this period, made one voyage abroad to visit Russia and Great Britain in 1891.

[19] All four members of the class were refitted in the late 1890s, the primary alterations being a new battery of main and secondary guns, though Requin received a more extensive reconstruction that included a new propulsion system and some armor improvements.

Terrible was laid up that year,[21] and by 1903, all members of the class were out of service, as a series of pre-dreadnought battleships had been built, taking their places in the squadrons of the fleet.