 The keel for "Bayard" was laid down in September or October 1876 and her completed hull was launched in March 1880.Fitting out work was completed in 1882, and "Bayard" was commissioned in May 1883 under the command of "capitaine de vaisseau" Parrayon as the flagship of Admiral Amédée Courbet, who had recently been appointed to the command of France's Trial division ("division des essais"), established in April 1883.On 31 May 1883, in the wake of the defeat and death of Commandant Henri Rivière in Tonkin (northern Vietnam) at the Battle of Paper Bridge, Courbet was placed in command of a newly created Tonkin Coasts naval division.