French ironclad Bayard

Bayard arrived in Along Bay on 10 July, and for the next eleven months served as flagship of the Tonkin Coasts naval division.[5] In August 1883, in the Battle of Thuận An, she bombarded the coastal defences of Hué, receiving minor shot damage from the Vietnamese shore batteries.[6] From October 1883 to June 1884, during the period of growing tension that preceded the outbreak of the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885), she took part in a French naval blockade of the coast of Tonkin. On 30 November 1883, in response to the threat of an imminent Vietnamese attack on the French post at Quảng Yên, Bayard's landing company was hastily installed in the town's citadel, successfully deterring the threatened attack.[7] In June 1884 Bayard became the flagship of the Far East Squadron, an exceptional naval grouping created for the war with China by the amalgamation of the Tonkin Coasts and Far East naval divisions.[8]

On 5 August 1884 sailors from Bayard took part in a French landing at Keelung, but were forced to re-embark on 6 August by a heavy Chinese counterattack.[9] Bayard took no part in the Battle of Fuzhou (23 August 1884), the opening battle of the Sino-French War, as she drew too much water to enter the Min River. Instead, she was left to guard the telegraph station at Sharp Peak near Matsu that allowed the squadron to communicate with France.[10] On 1 October 1884 Bayard and several other French warships supported the French landing at Keelung with a naval bombardment of Chinese shore positions.[11] On 8 October Bayard's landing company took part in the failed French landing at Tamsui, which condemned the Formosa expeditionary corps to a prolonged Keelung Campaign.[12] From November 1884 to January 1885 Bayard took part in the French naval blockade of Formosa.[13] On 14 November 1884, while anchored off Keelung and exposed to the northeast monsoon, she nearly foundered when her anchor chain snapped during a gale.[14]

Bayard during the Pescadores campaign in 1885

In February 1885 five warships of China's Nanyang Fleet made a sortie from Shanghai in an attempt to break the French blockade of Formosa. Courbet sought them out with Bayard and several other ships of the Far East squadron, and trapped them in Shipu Bay. At the Battle of Shipu on the night of 14 February 1885, two of Bayard's launches, used as improvised torpedo boats, attacked the Chinese squadron at anchor and disabled the frigate Yuyuan (馭遠) and the composite sloop Chengqing (澄慶).[15] In early March 1885 Bayard took part in the French blockade of Zhenhai, the outport of Ningbo.[16] In late March she formed part of the French flotilla for the Pescadores Campaign, and her landing company was engaged ashore on 31 March in the decisive battle with the Chinese defenders of Makung.[17]

Admiral Amédée Courbet died on board Bayard in the harbor of Makung, in the Pescadores Islands, on 11 June 1885.[18] Bayard left the Pescadores on 23 June to return Courbet's body to France for a state funeral, arriving at Toulon on 26 August.[19] She then proceeded to Brest to be disarmed and decommissioned.

By 1888, Bayard had been assigned to the Reserve Division of the Mediterranean Squadron. She was activated on 23 August that year for the annual fleet maneuvers. She got underway two days later to join the rest of the fleet, which had assembled at Hyères by 30 August. The maneuvers ended on 4 September, with the fleet returning to Toulon by the 10th.[20] Bayard served in the 3rd Division of the Mediterranean Squadron in 1890, along with the two Vauban-class ironclads. 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. Bayard served as part of the simulated enemy force during the maneuvers, which lasted from 30 June to 6 July.[21] During the 1890 fleet maneuvers, the ship was transferred to the 4th Division of the 2nd Squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet, along with the two Vaubans. The ships concentrated off Oran, French Algeria on 22 June and then proceeded to Brest, France, arriving there on 2 July for combined operations with the ships of the Northern Squadron. The exercises began four days later and concluded on 25 July, after which Bayard and the rest of the Mediterranean Fleet returned to Toulon.[22]

During the fleet maneuvers of 1891, which began on 23 June, Bayard served in the 3rd Division, once again with the two Vauban-class ships. The maneuvers lasted until 11 July, during which the 3rd Division operated as part of the "French" fleet, opposing a simulated hostile force that attempted to attack the southern French coast.[23] She saw no service in 1893, but the following year she returned to service with the Reserve Division, where she was kept in a state of partial commission during the year.[24] She returned to Indochinese waters in 1895, where she served as the station flagship once again. She was stationed there in company with the old ironclad Triomphante, which was kept in reserve, and four protected cruisers.[25] She remained on the East Asia station through 1896, by which time two of the cruisers had been withdrawn, leaving Isly and Alger.[26] The following year, the unit remained unchanged apart from the substitution of the protected cruiser Descartes for Alger.[27] Bayard remained in French Indochina in 1898.[28] The following year, she was replaced by the cruiser D'Entrecasteaux,[29] though Bayard remained in the area as a stationary guard ship. She was moored in Port Courbet (now Hạ Long) as the flagship of the Annam and Tonkin Division, which included the aviso Kersaint and three gunboats.[30] That year, she was converted into a hulk,[2] and was employed in that role until 1904 when she was struck from the naval register. Bayard was broken up in Saigon.[3]