The ship, whose name was chosen by the emperor, is a symbol of St. Petersburg.
The shipyard "New Admiralty" exactly 107 years ago - on June 4, 1897 - began the construction of the legendary cruiser "Aurora". Emperor Nicholas II personally chose the name for the ship, and was also present at its launch in 1900.At the moment, the Aurora cruiser is being repaired in Kronstadt and is waiting to return to Petrogradskaya Embankment.
SPB.AIF.RU has collected five interesting facts about the legendary ship, which will return to its historical place in 2016.
"Polkan" or "Bogatyr"
The armored cruiser of the first rank "Aurora" was the last in a series of three ships with a displacement of 6.6 thousand tons, built at the shipyard "New Admiralty" in late XIX century.The first two ships of the project were named "Pallada" and "Diana". The third within a year was unnamed. According to the tradition that has existed since the time of Peter I, the right to give names to large ships belonged to the emperor. A list was placed in front of Nicholas II, in which there were such names: “Helion”, “Juno”, “Psyche”, “Polkan”, “Boyarin”, “Neptune”, “Askold”, “Bogatyr”, “Varangian” and “Aurora” ". The emperor emphasized the latter, and also, so that there were no mistakes, he wrote it in the margins with his own hand.
The ship under construction was named Aurora by order of April 6, 1897.However, earlier the three-masted sailing frigate had the same name. That Aurora was built in 1835 in St. Petersburg at the Okhta shipyard.
Cruiser Aurora". Campaign of 1902 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Crocodiles, lemurs and boa constrictor
The cruiser was solemnly launched in St. Petersburg in 1900. The ceremony was attended by Emperor Nicholas II, as well as Empresses Maria Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna.
In 1905, when the Aurora was sailing to the shores of the Land of the Rising Sun at the height of Russo-Japanese War, two crocodiles lived on board the ship - they were pets of sailors. The reptiles were taken on board in one of the African ports on the way to Japan.The crocodiles were called Sam and Togo. According to the memoirs of the writer Yuri Chernov, who spoke about the life of the sailors from the Aurora in the book The High Fate of the Aurora, there were also several chameleons, lemurs and a boa constrictor on board. The crew took exotic animals on board after the death of Sharik's dog.A difficult fate awaited the reptiles: Sam threw himself off the deck and died, and Togo was killed during the Battle of Tsushima.
Cruiser "Aurora" on trial June 14, 1903 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Cover yourself at Tsushima
Second squadron Pacific Fleet, which consisted of 38 warships and auxiliary vessels, reached the coast of Japan. Having crossed three oceans, she could not pass the Korea Strait. There, 89 ships of the Japanese fleet were waiting for her under the flag of Admiral Heihachiro Togo (ed. note - it was in his honor that the crocodile was named on the Aurora).
With the most powerful fire, the Japanese tried to disable the battleships.
The cruiser "Aurora" managed to survive in the battle at Tsushima, protecting the ships. The hull of the ship covered the wounded Russian battleships. In that battle, only three cruisers survived - Zhemchug, Oleg and Aurora. Also, one destroyer and two auxiliary ships were able to withstand the Russians. In the Tsushima battle, the Aurora received about 10 hits from 75 to 200 mm caliber shells, five guns were disabled. 16 crew members were killed, including the captain of the ship Yevgeny Egoriev. Also, 89 crew members were injured (according to other sources - 15 killed and 83 wounded).
A detachment of cruisers left for the Philippine port of Manila. The Americans disarmed the ships there. They left the foreign harbor only at the end of 1905, when a peace treaty with Japan was signed.
Sending the cruiser for repairs to Kronstadt. Photo: AiF / Irina Sergeenkova
Blank volley of the revolution
The cruiser "Aurora" is considered one of the main symbols of the October Revolution of 1917, primarily because of the historic shot on the night of October 26th.Many people still have doubts about this volley. The fact is that the Aurora team immediately hurried to convince everyone who believed in the legend about the firing of live shells at the Winter Palace by sending a note to the newspaper. It said that only one blank salvo was fired from the ship, serving as a call for "vigilance and readiness."This shot also could not be called a signal shot, since it was fired at 21.40 Moscow time, and the assault on the Winter Palace began after midnight.It was important for the sailors who wrote a note in the Pravda newspaper to emphasize that the ship did not fire live shells at the Winter Palace and did not threaten the lives of ordinary people.
Cruiser - actor
After the Great Patriotic War The Aurora, which received serious damage, arrived for repairs at the Baltic Shipyard, where it was to be prepared for installation in an eternal parking lot.
At this time, the Soviet officials decided to give the ship to shoot in the film about the cruiser "Varyag". By that time, the latter was already resting at the bottom of the Irish Sea, so the legendary cruiser Aurora played its role, which the filmmakers had to significantly “make up”, changing its appearance. The film was presented to the public in 1946.
Aurora - Cruiser 1st rank Baltic Fleet, known for his role in the October Revolution of 1917. Aurora heralded with her volley the onset of a new era in the history of Russia. But what is the actual history of the cruiser "Aurora"? There are many little known facts about Aurora, which will be discussed below ..
Cruiser Aurora: Myths and Facts
The construction of the ship lasted more than 6 years - the Aurora was launched on May 11, 1900 at 11:15, and the cruiser entered the fleet (after completion of all outfitting work) only on July 16, 1903.
Cruiser Aurora: Myths and Facts
This ship was by no means unique in its combat qualities. The cruiser could not boast of a special speed (only 19 knots - squadron battleships of that time developed a speed of 18 knots), or weapons (8 six-inch main-caliber guns - far from amazing firepower). Ships like armored cruisers ("Bogatyr") were much faster and one and a half times more powerful. And the attitude of officers and teams towards these "goddesses of domestic production" was not too good - cruisers of the "Diana" type had a lot of flaws and constantly broke down
However, their tasks are to conduct reconnaissance, destroy enemy merchant ships, cover battleships from attacks by enemy destroyers, patrol service - these cruisers were quite consistent, having a solid (about seven thousand tons) displacement and good seaworthiness. With a full supply of coal (1430 tons), the Aurora could go from Port Arthur to Vladivostok and return back.
All cruisers were destined for the Pacific Ocean, where a military conflict with Japan was brewing, and the first two of the ships were already on board. Far East. September 25, 1903 "Aurora" with a crew of 559 people under the command of Captain 1st Rank I. V. Sukhotin left Kronstadt. In the Mediterranean, the Aurora joined the detachment of Rear Admiral A. A. Virenius, which consisted of the Oslyabya squadron battleship, the Dmitry Donskoy cruiser and several destroyers and auxiliary vessels. However, the detachment was late for the Far East - in the African port of Djibouti, on Russian ships, they learned about the Japanese night attack on the Port Arthur squadron and the start of the war. It was risky to go further, since the Japanese fleet blocked Port Arthur, and there was a high probability of meeting with superior enemy forces on the way to it. A proposal was made to send a detachment of Vladivostok cruisers to meet Virenius in the Singapore area and go with them to Vladivostok, and not to Port Arthur, but this quite reasonable proposal was not accepted.
On April 5, 1904, the Aurora returned to Kronstadt, where it was included in the 2nd Pacific Squadron under the command of Vice Admiral Rozhdestvensky, who was preparing to march on the Far Eastern theater of operations. Here, six of the eight main-caliber guns were covered with armored shields - the experience of the battles of the Arthurian squadron showed that fragments of high-explosive Japanese shells literally mow down unprotected personnel. In addition, the commander was replaced on the cruiser - he became the captain of the 1st rank E.R. Egoriev. On October 2, 1904, as part of the Aurora squadron, she set off for the second time - to Tsushima.
Admiral Rozhdestvensky was a rather non-standard personality. Among the many "quirks" of the admiral was the following - he had a habit of giving the warships entrusted to him nicknames that were very far from examples of belles-lettres. So, the cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov" was called "Idiot", the battleship "Sisoy the Great" - "Invalid Shelter", and so on. The squadron consisted of two ships with female names- the former yacht "Svetlana" and "Aurora". The commander called the first cruiser "The Maid", and the "Aurora" was awarded the title "The Prostitute". If Rozhdestvensky knew what kind of ship he calls it that ...
"Aurora" was in the detachment of cruisers of Rear Admiral Enkvist and during the Tsushima battle conscientiously carried out the order of Rozhdestvensky - she covered the transports. This task was clearly beyond the capacity of the four Russian cruisers, against whom first eight, and then sixteen Japanese ones acted. They were saved from a heroic death only by the fact that a column of Russian battleships accidentally approached them, driving away the pressing enemy. The cruiser did not distinguish itself with something special in battle - the author of the damage attributed to the Aurora by Soviet sources that the Japanese cruiser Izumi received was actually the cruiser Vladimir Monomakh.
At the beginning of the Battle of Tsushima on May 14, Aurora followed second behind the flagship cruiser of the Oleg detachment, covering the convoy of transports from the east. At 14:30, as part of his detachment, along with a reconnaissance detachment (2 cruisers, 1 auxiliary cruiser), he entered into battle with the 3rd (4 cruisers, Vice Admiral S. Deva) and 4th (4 cruisers, Rear Admiral S. . Uriu) by Japanese combat detachments, and at 15:20 also with the 6th Japanese combat detachment (4 cruisers, Rear Admiral K. Togo). Around 16:00, the ship came under fire from two armored cruisers of the 1st Japanese combat detachment, received serious damage and additionally entered into battle with the 5th Japanese combat detachment (3 cruisers, 1 coastal defense battleship, Vice Admiral S. Kataoka). At about 16:30, together with the detachment, he went under the protection of the non-shooting board of Russian battleships, but at 17:30-18:00 he took part in the last phase of the cruising battle.
In this battle, the ship received about 10 hits from 8 to 3-inch caliber shells, the crew lost 15 people killed and 83 wounded. The commander of the ship, Captain 1st Rank E.R. Egoriev, died - he was mortally wounded by a shell fragment that fell into the conning tower (buried at sea at 15 ° 00 ′ N, 119 ° 15 ′ E). (The commander’s son also participated in the Russo-Japanese War, who served on the Vladivostok cruiser squadron (on the cruiser Rossiya), who became Rear Admiral in Soviet times and taught naval history at the Leningrad Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics - LITMO.)
After the death of the captain, the command of the Aurora was taken over by a senior officer, captain 2nd rank A.K. Nebolsin, also wounded. The cruiser Aurora received 37 holes, but did not fail. The chimneys were seriously damaged, the compartment of the forward mine apparatus and several coal pits of the front stoker were flooded. Several fires were extinguished on the cruiser. All rangefinding stations, four 75-mm and one 6-inch guns, were out of order.
On the night of May 14/15, following the flagship of the detachment, forced the course to 18 knots, broke away from enemy pursuit in the dark and turned to the south. After several attempts to turn north, repelling torpedo attacks by Japanese destroyers, two ships of the detachment of O. A. Enquist - "Oleg" and "Aurora" - with the cruiser Zhemchug that joined them, on May 21 came to the neutral port of Manila (Philippines, US protectorate ), where they were interned on May 27, 1905 by the American authorities until the end of the war. A subscription was taken from the team about non-participation in further hostilities. For the treatment of the sick and wounded, both on the transition to the Far East, and during and after the battle, an X-ray machine was used on the ship - this was the first use of fluoroscopy in shipboard conditions in world practice.
In 1906, the Aurora returned to the Baltic, becoming a training ship for the Naval Corps. He underwent a major overhaul of the hull and mechanisms in St. Petersburg in 1906-1908. with the dismantling of torpedo tubes, the installation of an additional two 6-inch guns instead of four 75-mm guns, the installation of rails for laying minefields. 10/10/1907 reclassified from rank I cruisers to cruisers.
From the autumn of 1909 to the spring of 1910, the Aurora made a long voyage with the "midship detachment" in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Visited the ports of Vigo, Algiers, Bizerte, Toulon, Villefranche-sur-Mer, Smyrna, Naples, Messina, Souda, Piraeus, Poros, Gibraltar, Vigo, Cherbourg, Kiel. During this voyage, as part of the Mankovsky detachment (4 cruisers), he was in the ports of Greece in connection with the threat of a military mutiny there. From the autumn of 1910 to the spring of 1911, the ship was on a second long-distance training voyage along the route Libau - Christiansand - Vigo - Bizerte - Piraeus and Poros - Messina - Malaga - Vigo - Cherbourg - Libau. Since 1911 he was in the brigade of cruisers of the 1st reserve. From the autumn of 1911 to the summer of 1912, the Aurora went on the third long-distance training voyage to participate in the celebrations on the occasion of the coronation of the King of Siam (November 16 - December 2, 1911), visited ports Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean, Indian and Pacific Oceans. In the spring and summer of 1912, the cruiser was part of the international squadron of the “protecting powers” of Crete, and stood as a Russian stationer in Souda Bay.
The Aurora met the First World War as part of the second brigade of cruisers of the Baltic Fleet (together with Oleg, Bogatyr and Diana). The Russian command expected a breakthrough of the powerful German High Seas Fleet into the Gulf of Finland and an attack on Kronstadt and even St. Petersburg. To counter this threat, mines were hastily laid, and the Central mine-artillery position was equipped. The cruiser was entrusted with the task of carrying out sentinel service at the mouth Gulf of Finland in order to timely notify of the appearance of German dreadnoughts. The cruisers went on patrol in pairs, and at the end of the patrol period, one pair replaced the other. The Russian ships achieved their first success on August 26, when the German light cruiser Magdeburg landed on the rocks near the island of Odensholm. The cruisers Pallada arrived in time (the older sister of the Aurora died in Port Arthur, and this new Pallada was built after the Russo-Japanese War) and the Bogatyr tried to capture the helpless enemy ship. Although the Germans managed to blow up their cruiser, Russian divers found secret German ciphers at the accident site, which served both the Russians and the British in good stead during the war.
But a new danger awaited Russian ships - since October, German submarines began to operate in the Baltic Sea. Anti-submarine defense in the fleets of the whole world was then in its infancy - no one knew how and with what it was possible to hit an invisible enemy hiding under water, and how to avoid his sudden attacks. There were no diving shells, let alone depth charges and sonars. Surface ships could only rely on the good old ram - after all, they should not take seriously the developed anecdotal instructions, in which it was prescribed to cover the sighted periscopes with bags and fold them with sledgehammers. On October 11, 1914, at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, the German submarine U-26, under the command of Lieutenant Commander von Berkheim, discovered two Russian cruisers: the Pallada, which was ending its patrol service, and the Aurora, which had come up to replace it. The commander of the German submarine, with German pedantry and scrupulousness, assessed and classified the targets - in all respects, the new armored cruiser was much more tempting prey than the veteran of the Russian-Japanese war. A torpedo hit caused a detonation of the ammunition cellars on the Pallada, and the cruiser sank along with the entire crew - only a few sailor caps remained on the waves ... The Aurora turned around and took refuge in skerries. And again, do not blame Russian sailors for cowardice - as already mentioned, they still did not know how to fight submarines, and the Russian command already knew about the tragedy that happened ten days earlier in the North Sea, where a German boat sank three English armored cruisers at once. Aurora escaped death for the second time - fate clearly kept the cruiser
It is not worth dwelling on the role of Aurora in the events of October 1917 in Petrograd - more than enough has been said about this. We only note that the threat to shoot the Winter Palace from the guns of the cruiser was pure bluff. The cruiser was under repair, and therefore all the ammunition was unloaded from it in full accordance with the instructions in force. And the stamp “Aurora salvo” is purely grammatically incorrect, since a “volley” is simultaneously fired shots from at least two barrels. This leads to the conclusion that the legends about the aurora as a symbol of the revolution are a myth.
In 1918, the Aurora was laid up, and since the spring of 1919 - in conservation. In September 1922, a special commission examined the ship and concluded: "The external condition of the ship and the nature of bringing it to long-term storage make it possible, after relatively simple repairs, to bring the ship into readiness for use as a training ship." In 1940-1945, the Aurora stood in Oranienbaum. In 1948, the cruiser was put on "eternal parking" at the quay wall of the Bolshaya Nevka, where the ship-museum is currently located. However, the modern cruiser is only a replica, since during the last reconstruction in 1984, more than 50% of the hull and superstructures were replaced. Of the most notable differences from the original is the use of welds on the new hull instead of rivet technology. The ship itself was towed to the naval base of the Navy in the coastal strip of the Gulf of Finland near the village of Ruchi, where it was sawn into pieces and flooded. Parts of the ship sticking out of the water were stolen by the inhabitants of the village in the late 80s for building materials and scrap metal.
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Shouldn't we call the cruiser "Polkan"?
When in September 1896 at the St. Petersburg shipyard "New Admiralty" they start building a new naval vessel, the proud name "Aurora" still does not even occur to anyone. New project called "a cruiser with a displacement of 6630 tons of the Diana type", with which the cruiser lasted almost a year. Only in 1897 did he receive the name that Nicholas II came up with for him. The emperor, so that he would not bother himself once again, was offered a list of possible names. Among them: Aurora, Naiad, Helion, Juno, Psyche, Askold, Varyag, Bogatyr, Boyar, Polkan, Neptune. The emperor read the list , thought and wrote the word "Aurora" in the margins of the note.
Aurora crocodiles refuse to fight
The solemn launching took place on May 11, 1900 in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II and Empresses Maria Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna, who watched what was happening from the Imperial Pavilion.
In 1905, at the height of the Russo-Japanese War, along with members of the crew of a cruiser heading for the shores of the Land of the Rising Sun, there was a couple of crocodiles taken on board during one of the stops in an African port. Such an unusual “cargo” is explained simply: sailors were allowed to take pets with them on a voyage. Of course, crocodiles can hardly be called domestic animals, but, as they say, they don’t argue about tastes. The crocodiles were given the nicknames Himself and Togo, they arranged planned bathing for them and even tried to tame them. However, as it turned out, the training of crocodiles is a troublesome thankless task: seizing a good moment, one of the crocodiles rushed into the ocean and disappeared forever in its blue waters. The diary of the commander that evening was replenished with a note: “One of the young crocodiles, which the officers released today for fun, did not want to go to war, he preferred to jump overboard and die.” The second reptile was killed during the Battle of Tsushima.
Those who, thinking about naval service, imagine that the sailors bend their backs all day long, scouring the deck or getting poked from the captain, you can immediately be disappointed when talking about the life on the cruiser. Leisure time on the Aurora was fun and varied: Boat races, races across Mars (a platform on one of the masts), aiming competitions and a theatrical performance were organized on Maslenitsa. By the way, the "troupe" of the cruiser, which consisted of sailors, turned out to be so gifted that they often visited other ships of the squadron with performances.
Cruiser Hero
During the Battle of Tsushima, the cruiser proved to be a reliable ship capable of not only repelling an attack, but also inflicting crushing losses on the enemy: During the battle, the cruiser fired over 300 shells at the enemy, and more than once covered other Russian battleships. After the battle, the Aurora missed five guns, irretrievably lost 16 people (including the captain of the ship) and received ten "wounds"
Revolution Symbol
In the revolution of 1917, the role of the cruiser is of particular importance. Still, now new government was its formidable symbol of triumphant justice, which overnight destroyed the autocracy. However, literally in the first days after the volley, rumors spread around the city that ... do not stop to this day. So, for example, there is an opinion that on the day of the storming of the Winter Palace, fire was opened from a cruiser. Those who believed this legend were first of all rushed to convince the crew of the ship, who sent a note to the editorial office of the Pravda newspaper stating that only one blank shot was fired from the cruiser, serving as calls for "vigilance and readiness." Also, this shot could not be called a signal, since it was fired at 21:40, while the assault began after midnight. In addition, it should be borne in mind that these days the cruiser was under repair, which excluded the possibility that live ammunition was fired.
The further fate of the cruiser
In 1941, the cruiser was supposed to turn into a monument, but this was prevented by the war, during which the ship was seriously damaged. In July 1944, the cruiser was sent for repairs, which, after dragging on for four years, nevertheless made the Aurora into a monument, on board of which the training base of the Leningradsky Nakhimov School, which later became a branch of the Central Naval Museum.
When two years later they started filming the film "Cruiser" Varyag "", they decided to shoot the Aurora as a ship. For filming, the cruiser was modified by installing a fourth, fake tube, and redesigning the bow.
In the summer of 1984, the cruiser was towed to the shipyard "for overhaul and refitting." Three years later, the ship fell into place, but experts say that the cruiser now standing at the famous pier has little in common with the former Aurora. Only part of the hull above the waterline remained from the real cruiser. The lower one, filled with concrete, rests in the ship cemetery.
On September 21, 2014, the cruiser will again go for repairs, which was tentatively estimated at 120 million rubles. So if you are a fan of naval technology or you are interested in the history of one of the most famous ships in Russia, hurry up, the pier will be empty for about two years.
"Aurora" and the October Revolution in the minds of the inhabitants of our country are inseparable from each other.
But ask a passer-by on the street about the battle path of the legendary cruiser - he will not answer. Meanwhile, the true story of the Aurora is amazing, almost unbelievable...
1. SURVIVED "TWIN SISTERS"
In the year of the centenary of the revolution, the Aurora cruiser itself celebrates the round date. It was laid down in 1897 at the New Admiralty shipyard.
Over the 120 years of its history, Aurora managed to take part in three revolutions and two world wars, successfully surviving to this day, which cannot be said about its two older sisters.
The cruiser "Aurora" was built third after two similar cruisers - "Diana" and "Pallada". Shipbuilding work was carried out as part of the program "to equalize our naval forces with the German and with the forces of the secondary states adjacent to the Baltic."
The first armored cruisers of Russia had rather average military and driving characteristics. Diana and Pallada were the first to go on combat duty in 1903, reinforcing the Russian squadron in Port Arthur on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War.
During the heroic defense of the city, "Diana" and "Pallada" took an active part in it. On July 28, 1904, the squadron began an attempt to break through towards Vladivostok. "Diana", escaping from the battle, went to Saigon.
Returning to Russia, she took part in the First World War. After the revolution in 1922, the cruiser was sold to a Soviet-German joint-stock company and dismantled for scrap.
"Pallas" suffered a no less sad fate. Unable to escape from the besieged Port Arthur, she was blown up along with other ships after the decision was made to surrender the fortress.
2. "DAUGHTER" OF THE EMPEROR
Since the time of Peter I, naming large ships of the Russian fleet has been the prerogative of the autocrat. Aurora is no exception. Nicholas II was given a choice of eleven proposed names: "Aurora", "Askold", "Bogatyr", "Varangian", "Naiad", "Juno", "Helion", "Psyche", "Polkan", "Boyarin", " Neptune". After a moment's hesitation, the emperor succinctly wrote in the margin: "Aurora."
Why did the choice fall on the name of the ancient Roman goddess of the dawn? On this occasion, there is such a version: the cruiser was actually named after the sailing frigate "Aurora", which participated in the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky from the superior forces of the English squadron during Crimean War in 1854.
By the way, the total cost of building the Aurora was 6.4 million rubles in gold.
3. THREE YEARS TO REFINE
The ceremonial launching took place on May 11, 1900. On the upper deck of the ship, as part of the guard of honor, there was a 78-year-old sailor who served on the Aurora frigate.
However, until 1903, the Aurora was installing the lead machines, general ship systems and weapons. Only after that, the cruiser set off on her first long-distance voyage along the route Portland - Algiers - Bizerte - Piraeus - Port Said - the port of Suez.
In January 1904, the formation of Rear Admiral Virenius, which included the Aurora, received news of the outbreak of war with Japan and an order to return to the Baltic.
4. Crocodiles and Midshipmen
At home, the Aurora crew immediately received an order to immediately go to Vladivostok to help the Pacific squadron.
During a previous trip, while in an African port, the sailors took on board two pets - crocodiles named Sam and Togo. Various competitions were arranged with them, they tried to tame them, but in vain. The first crocodile escaped from the ship during training, the second was killed during the Battle of Tsushima on May 14, 1905.
On that fateful day, 50 ships of the Russian squadron entered the Korea Strait. When the Japanese cruisers opened heavy fire on the Russian transport ships, the Aurora, together with the flagship Oleg, entered the battle. They were assisted by "Vladimir Monomakh", "Dmitry Donskoy" and "Svetlana".
Unfortunately, the battle was lost. The captain of the cruiser Yevgeny Egoriev was killed. During the battle, several compartments of the ship were flooded, the guns were disabled, and a fire broke out on the cruiser. But the Aurora did not sink - she even tried to break through to Vladivostok. However, the fuel reserves were only enough to reach the Philippine Islands, where the cruiser was interned by the Americans in the port of Manila.
Only on October 10, 1905, after the end of the war with Japan, the Andreevsky flag was again raised on the ship, the Americans released the cruiser to their native shores. Until 1913, the ship remained a training ship for midshipmen and made long trips to Thailand and the island of Java.
5. CRUISER OR AIR DEFENSE ELEMENT?
Having fallen into the category of veterans, the Aurora became part of the ships on which the sentinel service of the fairways from the Gulf of Finland to the Botanichesky was assigned. But to fight in the First world war Aurora nevertheless had to, however, in a very unusual way. She played the role of air defense in the fight against low-flying low-speed enemy aircraft. And the cruiser coped with the task brilliantly.
6. THE STORM OF THE WINTER COST WITHOUT "AURORA"
For a long time it was believed that a salvo from the Aurora in October 1917 served as a signal for the start of the assault on the Winter Palace, but this is not so.
In September 1916, the Aurora stood up to the wall of the Admiralty Plant for repairs. At the end of February 1917, a strike began at the plant. Wanting to prevent possible unrest on the cruiser, its commander Nikolsky opened fire with a revolver on the sailors who arbitrarily decided to leave the ship, was killed by the crew, and a mutiny broke out on the cruiser.
From that moment on, the command of the Aurora was elected by the ship's committee. On the eve of the revolutionary events on October 24, 1917, the Aurora passed up the Bolshaya Neva to the Nikolaevsky Bridge, preventing the junkers from taking possession of it.
The ship's electricians brought together the openings of the bridge, connecting Vasilyevsky Island with the city center. It was assumed that on October 25 at 21.40 the cruiser would fire a couple of blank shots, meaning “Attention! Readiness.
The cannon of the Peter and Paul Fortress fired first, and only then the legendary blank shot was fired from the Aurora in the direction of Zimny. But he had nothing to do with the beginning of the assault.
The shot, as the Pravda newspaper later confirmed, was only to call on the revolutionary masses to be vigilant. The assault on the palace began a few hours later. The signal to him was given by volleys of guns from the Peter and Paul Fortress, two of which hit the windows of the palace.
7. VETERANS DO NOT AGE IN SOUL...
In 1922, it was decided to use the Aurora as a training ship for the Baltic Fleet. In 1924, already under the Soviet flag, the ship made a long trip around Scandinavia past Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. By 1941, they wanted to exclude the veteran cruiser from the fleet, but the war prevented this decision.
Some of the guns were removed from the cruiser and used both on other ships and as part of land batteries. On July 9, 1941, a special-purpose artillery battery was formed, known in the history of the defense of Leningrad as battery "A" according to capital letter cruiser name. Unfortunately, the same gun from which a blank shot was fired at the Winter Palace was lost in the battles.
In 1944, the cruiser "Aurora" was forever installed on the Neva as "a monument to the active participation of the sailors of the Baltic Fleet in the overthrow of the bourgeois Provisional Government." The cruiser took its place of eternal parking only on November 17, 1948, after it depicted another revolutionary cruiser, the Varyag, in the cinema.
Today, after another scheduled repair, the legendary cruiser Aurora has returned to its place of eternal parking.
Dmitry Sokolov.
TOPFOTO/FOTODOM,
Armored cruiser of the 1st rank of the Baltic Fleet "Aurora" in St. Petersburg. The ship took part in several naval battles of the 20th century and is considered one of the main symbols of the 1917 revolution. Since 1957, a branch of the Central Naval Museum.
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Aurora refers to armored cruisers type "Diana", built in Russian Empire at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. In total, three such ships were built: "Diana", "Pallada" and "Aurora". The last cruiser got its name in honor of the Greek goddess of the dawn and in memory of sailing frigate"Aurora", which gained fame during the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky during the Crimean War. The name was personally chosen by Emperor Nicholas II from eleven proposed options.
The cruiser "Aurora" was laid down at the shipyard of the New Admiralty in 1896 and solemnly launched in 1900 in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II and a 78-year-old sailor who once served on the frigate of the same name.
In 1903, the Aurora cruiser became part of the Russian Imperial Navy. The ship spent its first service in the Far East, and then was included in the Second Pacific Squadron. In 1905, the cruiser participated in the Battle of Tsushima, where it received significant damage, after which it went for repairs to the Philippine Manila. In 1906, the Aurora returned to the Baltic Sea. In 1909-1912, the ship took part in a training cruise in the Mediterranean, and in 1913 the cruiser became the flagship of the training detachment.
During the First World War, the Aurora cruiser took part in defensive activities and continued training campaigns.
During the revolutionary events of 1917, the power on the ship passed to the sailors, the management was carried out by an elected ship committee. During the October Bolshevik uprising, the Aurora fired the famous blank shot at the Winter Palace, which became the signal to start the assault.
After the revolution, the ship again became part of the training fleet, having made several international campaigns. During the Great Patriotic War and the Leningrad Siege, the cruiser became part of the air defense of Kronstadt.
In 1944, it was decided to install the Aurora at the Petrogradskaya Embankment as a museum-monument of the history of the fleet and the base of the Nakhimov School. In 1957, the cruiser became part of the exposition of the Central Naval Museum. The exposition is located in six rooms of the ship; the conning tower, engine and boiler rooms are open to the public.
The cruiser is often mentioned in various works of art- songs and poems, and he also acted in films as the cruiser Varyag.
The displacement of the cruiser "Aurora" is 6731 tons, the length of the vessel is 126.8 meters, the width is 16.8 meters. Crew - 20 officers and 550 sailors.
The cruiser is included in the Unified State Register of Cultural Heritage Objects (monuments of history and culture) of Russia.
Note to tourists:
A visit to the cruiser "Aurora" will be of interest to all tourists, and especially those interested in maritime history. In addition, other city attractions are located next to the ship - and embankments, a monument to the 300th anniversary of Russian fleet, the house "Noble Nest", the house of the Baltic Fleet.