Bayard was the lead ship of the of ironclad barbette ships built for the French Navy in the late 1870s and 1880s. 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. The Vauban class was a scaled down variant of . They carried their main battery of four guns in open barbettes, two forward side-by-side and the other two aft on the nautical. Bayard was laid down in 1876 and was commissioned in 1882. Design The Bayard 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. At the time, the French Navy categorized its capital ships as high-seas ships for the main fleet, station ironclads for use in the French colonial empire, and smaller coastal defense ships. The Bayard class was intended to serve in the second role, and they were based on the high-seas ironclad , albeit a scaled-down version. Bayard was long at the waterline, with a beam of and a draft of . She displaced . The crew numbered 20 officers and 430 enlisted men. Her propulsion machinery consisted of two compound steam engines with steam provided by eight coal-burning fire-tube boilers. Her engines were rated to produce for a top speed of . To supplement the steam engines on long voyages overseas, she was fitted with a full-ship rig. Her main battery consisted of four , 19-caliber guns mounted in individual barbette mounts, two forward placed abreast and two aft, both on the centerline. She carried a pair of guns, one in the bow and one in the stern as chase guns. These guns were supported by a secondary battery of six guns carried in a central battery located amidships in the hull, three guns per broadside. For defense against torpedo boats, she carried four 3-pounder Hotchkiss revolver cannon and twelve 1-pounder Hotchkiss revolvers, all in individual mounts. The ship was protected with wrought iron armor; her belt was thick and extended for the entire length of the hull. The barbettes for the main battery were thick, and her main deck was thick. Service history The keel for Bayard was laid down on 19 September 1876, and her completed hull was launched on 27 March 1880. Fitting out work was completed