Amiral Baudin was an ironclad of the French Navy built in the late 1870s and 1880s. She was the lead ship of the Amiral Baudin class, which included one other vessel, Formidable. The Amiral Baudin class was designed in response to Italian naval expansion, and carried a main battery of three 370 mm (14.6 in) guns all mounted in open barbettes on the centerline. The armament was chosen after public pressure to compete with the very large guns mounted on the latest Italian ironclads. Amiral Baudin was laid down in 1879 and was completed in 1888.