Can't wait for it to come back from reconstruction
Aurora is a Russian armored cruiser of the 1st rank of the Diana class. He took part in the Tsushima battle. The cruiser "Aurora" gained worldwide fame by giving a signal with a blank shot from a gun to the beginning of the October Revolution of 1917. During the Great Patriotic War the ship took part in the defense of Leningrad. After the end of the war, he continued to serve as a blockship training ship and a museum, moored on the river. Neva in St. Petersburg. During this time, the Aurora has become a symbol of the Russian fleet and is now an object of Russia's cultural heritage.
The cruiser "Aurora", like other ships of its type ("Diana" and "Pallada"), was built according to the shipbuilding program of 1895 with the aim of "equalizing our naval forces with the German and with the forces of the minor states adjacent to the Baltic." Diana-class cruisers became one of the first armored cruisers in Russia, the development of which took into account, first of all, the experience of foreign countries. Nevertheless, for their time (in particular, during the Russo-Japanese War), ships of this type turned out to be ineffective due to the “backwardness” of many tactical and technical elements (speed, armament, armor).
By the beginning of the XX century. Russia's foreign policy position was rather complicated: the persistence of contradictions with England, the growing threat from developing Germany, and the strengthening of Japan's position. Accounting for these factors required the strengthening of the army and navy, that is, the construction of new ships. Changes in the shipbuilding program, adopted in 1895, assumed the construction in the period from 1896 to 1905. 36 new ships, including nine cruisers, of which two (then three) are "carapace", that is, armored. Subsequently, these three armored cruisers became the Diana class.
The basis for the development of tactical and technical elements (TTE) of future cruisers was the project of a cruiser with a displacement of 6000 tons, created by S. K. Ratnik, the prototype of which was the newest (launched in 1895) English cruiser HMS Talbot and the French armored cruiser D'Entrecasteaux ( 1896). At the beginning of June 1896, the planned series was expanded to three ships, the third of which (the future Aurora) was ordered to be laid down in the New Admiralty. On April 20, 1896, the Marine Technical Committee (MTC) approved the technical design of the armored cruiser of the 1st rank.
On March 31, 1897, Emperor Nicholas II ordered that the cruiser under construction be called the Aurora in honor of the Roman goddess of dawn. This name was chosen by the autocrat from eleven proposed names. L. L. Polenov, however, believes that the cruiser was named after the sailing frigate Aurora, which became famous during the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in the years Crimean War.
Despite the fact that, in fact, work on the construction of the Aurora began much later than the Diana and Pallada, the official laying of the cruisers of this type took place on the same day: May 23, 1897. . the solemn ceremony was held on the Aurora in the presence of Admiral General Alexei Alexandrovich. A silver mortgage plate was fixed between the 60th and 61st frames, and the flag and guis of the future cruiser were raised on specially installed flagpoles.
Diana-class cruisers were supposed to be the first mass-produced cruisers in Russia, but it was not possible to achieve uniformity among them: the Aurora was equipped with vehicles, boilers, and steering devices other than the Diana and Pallada. Electric drives for the latter were ordered to three different factories as an experiment: in this way it was possible to find out which drives would turn out to be the most effective, so that they could then be installed on other ships of the fleet. So, the electric drives of the Aurora steering machines were ordered by Siemens and Halke.
The slipway work began in the fall of 1897, and they dragged on for three and a half years (largely due to the unavailability of individual elements of the ship). Finally, on May 24, 1900, the hull was launched in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II and Empresses Maria Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna. Following this, the installation of the main machines, auxiliary mechanisms, general ship systems, weapons and other equipment began. In 1902, for the first time in the Russian fleet, Aurora received Hall anchors, a novelty that the other two ships of this type did not have time to equip. In the summer of 1900, the cruiser passed the first tests, the last on June 14, 1903.
Four builders took part in the direct construction of the cruiser (from the moment of construction until the end of running changes): E. R. de Grofe, K. M. Tokarevsky, N. I. Pushchin and A. A. Bazhenov.
The total cost of building the Aurora is estimated at 6.4 million rubles.
The Aurora's hull has three decks: an upper deck and two inner decks (battery and armor), as well as a tank superstructure. On the entire perimeter of the armored deck, which was called residential, there is a platform, two more - at the ends of the ship.
The main transverse bulkheads (below the armored deck) divide the interior of the hold into thirteen compartments. Four compartments (bow, boiler rooms, engine rooms, aft) occupy the space between the armor and battery decks and ensure the unsinkability of the ship.
The outer steel sheathing had a length of 6.4 m and a thickness of up to 16 mm and was attached to the set with two rows of rivets. In the underwater part of the hull, steel sheets were fastened in a lap, in the surface part - butt-to-butt on backing strips. The thickness of the bulwark sheathing sheets reached 3 mm.
The underwater part of the hull and its surface part, 840 mm above the waterline, had millimeter copper plating, which, in order to avoid electrochemical corrosion and fouling, was attached to teak wood plating, fixed to the hull with bronze bolts.
In the diametrical plane on the horizontal keel, a false keel was installed, which had two layers and was made of two types of trees (the upper row was made of teak, the lower row was made of oak).
The cruiser had two masts, the bases of which were attached to the armored deck. Foremast height - 23.8 m; mainmasts - 21.6 m.
The design of the armored cruiser assumes the presence of a solid carapace deck that protects all vital parts of the ship (engine, boiler and tiller rooms, artillery and mine ammunition magazines, a central combat post, underwater mine vehicles rooms). Its horizontal part on the Aurora has a thickness of 38 mm, which increases to 63.5 mm on the bevels to the sides and ends.
The conning tower is protected in front, on the sides and behind by armor plates 152 mm thick, which made it possible to protect it even from the stern heading angles; on top - armor plate 51 mm thick made of low-magnetic steel.
Vertical armor with a thickness of 38 mm have shell elevators and control drives where there is no armored deck.
The boiler plant consisted of 24 boilers of the Belleville system of the 1894 model, which were located in three compartments (bow, stern and middle boiler). Along the sides of the cruiser, pipes of the main steam pipeline to the main steam engines were laid. The Aurora, like other ships of the type, did not have auxiliary boilers. In view of this, steam was supplied to the auxiliary mechanisms through a steam pipeline from the main boilers.
Above all three boiler rooms there was a chimney 27.4 m high. To ensure the operation of the boilers, ship tanks contained 332 tons of fresh water (for the needs of the crew - 135 tons), which could be replenished with the help of desalination plants of the circle system, the total productivity of which reached up to 60 tons of water per day.
To place coal on the Aurora, there were 24 coal pits located in the inter-board space near the boiler rooms, as well as 8 coal pits of spare fuel located between the armor and battery decks throughout the engine rooms. These 32 pits could hold up to 965 tons of coal; 800 tons of coal were considered a normal fuel supply. A full supply of coal could be enough for 4,000 miles of sailing at a speed of 10 knots.
The main engines were three triple expansion steam engines (total power - 11600 hp). They had to be able to provide a 20-knot speed (during the tests, the Aurora reached a maximum speed of 19.2 knots, which generally exceeded the maximum speed of the Diana and Pallas during the tests). The exhaust steam was condensed by three refrigerators; there was also a steam condenser for auxiliary machines and mechanisms.
Cruiser propellers - three three-bladed bronze propellers. The middle screw was a left-handed screw, the right one rotated counterclockwise, the left one clockwise (view from stern to bow).
Drainage system
The task of the system is to pump out the bulk of the water from the compartments of the ship after sealing the hole. For this, one turbine was used autonomously (water supply - 250 t / h) at the ends, in the MKO - circulation pumps of refrigerators and six turbines with water supply of 400 t / h.
Drying system
The task of the system is to remove water left after the operation of drainage facilities or accumulated in the hull due to filtration, flooding of bearings, sweating of the sides and decks. To do this, the ship had a main pipe made of red copper, which had 31 receiving processes and 21 uncoupling valves. The drainage itself was carried out by three pumps of the Worthington system.
Ballast system
The Aurora had one kingston of the flooding system at the extremities and two each in the middle watertight compartments, which were controlled from the battery deck. The drives of the flooding kingstones were brought to the living deck.
fire system
Under the armored deck along the starboard side, a red-copper pipe of the fire main was laid. Two Worthington pumps were used to supply water. Branches from the main pipe were located on the upper deck, turning into copper swivel horns for attaching fire hoses.
Boat armament
two 30-foot steam launches;
one 16-oar barge;
one 18-oar barge;
one 14-oar boat;
one 12-oar boat;
two 6-oared whaleboats;
All rowboats were serviced by swivel davits, and steam boats were serviced by tumblers.
The living quarters were calculated for 570 crew members and for the placement of the flagship of the compound with its headquarters. lower ranks slept on hanging bunks located in the bow of the ship. 10 conductors slept in five double cabins on the armored deck, officers and admirals - in the rooms between the bow and middle chimneys.
The food supply was designed for two months, there was a refrigerator and a refrigerator.
The artillery armament of the Aurora consisted of eight 152-mm with a barrel length of 45 caliber guns of the Kane system, one placed on the forecastle and poop, and six on the upper deck (three on each side). The maximum firing range of the gun is up to 9800 m, the rate of fire is 5 rounds per minute with mechanical feeding of shells and 2 shots with manual feeding. The total ammunition consisted of 1414 shots. Shells according to their action were divided into armor-piercing, high-explosive and shrapnel.
Twenty-four 75-mm 50-caliber guns of the Kane system were installed on the upper and battery decks on vertical machines of the Meller system. The firing range is up to 7000 m, the rate of fire is 10 rounds per minute with mechanical feed and 4 with manual feed. Their ammunition consisted of 6240 armor-piercing rounds. 8 single 37-mm Hotchkiss guns and two landing 63.5-mm guns of the Baranovsky system were installed on the top and bridges. For these guns, respectively, there were 3600 and 1440 rounds of ammunition.
Mine weapons included one surface retractable torpedo tube, which fired torpedoes through the stem apple, and two underwater traverse shield tubes installed on board. Whitehead torpedoes were fired with compressed air at ship speeds up to 17 knots. The torpedo tubes were aimed using three sights (one for each tube) located in the conning tower. The ammunition was eight torpedoes with a caliber of 381 mm and a range of 1500 m. Two of them were stored at the bow apparatus, and six more - in the compartment of underwater vehicles.
The mine armament also included 35 spherical mines, which could be installed from rafts or boats and boats of the ship. On the sides of the Aurora, anti-mine barrier nets were hung on special tubular poles if the cruiser was anchored in an open roadstead.
External communication of the ship was provided by signal flags, as well as (less commonly) "Mangin's battle lights" - searchlights with a mirror diameter of 75 cm. The main purpose of the latter was to illuminate enemy destroyers in the dark. "Aurora" was armed with six searchlights. For night long-range visual signaling, the cruiser had two sets of lights from the system of Colonel V. V. Tabulevich. This new tool for that time consisted of two lanterns of red and white colors. To enhance the light intensity of the lights, a special combustible powder was used, which made it possible, under favorable meteorological conditions, to see the lights at a distance of up to 10 miles. The signaling was carried out by the transmission of numbers in Morse code: a dot was indicated by a flash of a white lantern, and a dash by a red one.
Observation was carried out with the help of spotting scopes and binoculars.
The cruiser's artillery fire control system allowed the artillery officer to control all of the ship's artillery and each gun individually. The distance to the target was measured using a Barr and Strood rangefinder purchased in England.
Protracted sea trials allowed the Aurora to make its first exit to the sea only on September 25, 1903. The cruiser was sent to the Far East along the route Portland - Algiers - La Spezia - Bizerte - Piraeus - Port Said - the port of Suez. Having reached Djibouti at the end of January 1904, the formation of Rear Admiral A. A. Virenius learned about the beginning of the war with Japan and went back to the Baltic, where he arrived by April 1904.
After returning to the Baltic, the Aurora was included in the 2nd squadron of the Pacific Fleet, which was supposed to go to Vladivostok as soon as possible in order, firstly, to help the ships of the 1st Pacific squadron, and, secondly, to break Japanese fleet and establish dominance in the Sea of Japan. The cruiser came under the command of Vice Admiral Z. P. Rozhestvensky, and on October 2, 1904, as part of his formation, left Libau, thereby starting a long transition to the Pacific Ocean.
On October 7, the cruiser and its formation almost reached the shores of Great Britain, which was Russia's political opponent in the fight against Japan and an ally of the latter, so Z. P. Rozhdestvensky ordered all ships to be put on high alert. In the Dogger Bank area, the formation found unidentified vessels (which turned out to be British fishing boats) and fired on them. Moreover, the Aurora and Dmitry Donskoy also came under fire from the armadillos. This so-called Hull Incident resulted in a major international scandal.
By May 1, 1905, the squadron of Z. P. Rozhdestvensky reached Van Phong Bay, from where it left for the last transition to Vladivostok. On the night of May 14, 50 ships of the formation entered the Korea Strait, where the Battle of Tsushima took place a few hours later. During this battle, the Aurora operated as part of the Cruiser Detachment of Rear Admiral O. A. Enkvist. Due to the construction of the ships chosen by Z. P. Rozhdestvensky, the Aurora, like the other cruisers of its formation, did not take part in the first 45 minutes of the battle (from 13:45 to 14:30). By 2:30 p.m. nine Japanese cruisers chose the transport ships of the Russian squadron as their targets, and the Aurora, together with the flagship cruiser Oleg, entered into battle with them. To the extent possible, they were also assisted by "Vladimir Monomakh", "Dmitry Donskoy" and "Svetlana". However, the defeat of the Russian squadron was already inevitable. At nightfall on May 15, scattered ships of the Russian squadron made separate attempts to break through to Vladivostok. So, "Aurora", "Oleg" and "Zhemchug" made such attempts, but unsuccessfully. Avoiding torpedo attacks by Japanese destroyers, these ships were ordered by O. A. Enkvist to turn south, thereby leaving the battle zone and the Korea Strait. By May 21, these three cruisers, with almost out of fuel, were able to reach the Philippine Islands, where they were interned by the Americans in the port of Manila. During the Battle of Tsushima, the Aurora was seriously damaged; 10 crew members were killed and 80 more were wounded. The only officer of the cruiser who died in battle was his commander, Captain 1st Rank E. G. Egoriev.
While in Manila for four months, the Aurora crew carried out repair and restoration work on their own. On October 10, 1905, having received a message about the end of the war with Japan, the St. Andrew's flag and guis were again raised on the cruiser; the Americans returned the previously surrendered gun locks. Having received an order to return to the Baltic, the Aurora reached Libau on February 19, 1906. Here the condition of the ship was examined. After that, the forces of the Franco-Russian, Obukhov plants and the Kronstadt military port repaired the cruiser and its artillery weapons. Already in 1907 - 1908. "Aurora" was able to take part in training voyages.
It is noteworthy that domestic naval designers back in 1906, i.e. when the Aurora had just returned to Libau, they appreciated the new qualitative level of development of shipbuilding in other countries. The chief inspector of shipbuilding K. K. Ratnik made a proposal in order to study the novelty of that time - a turbine engine - to refrain from the immediate construction of large ships with such a power plant, and install them on the Aurora and Diana or build a cruiser with a displacement of up to 5000 tons according to the type of cruiser "Novik". However, this proposal was not implemented.
When a new classification of ships of the Russian fleet was introduced in September 1907, according to it (cruisers were now divided into armored cruisers and cruisers, and not by rank and depending on the booking system), the Aurora, as well as the Diana, was assigned to cruisers.
In 1909, "Diana" (flagship), "Aurora" and "Bogatyr" were included in the "Detachment of ships assigned to sail with ship midshipmen", and after the highest review by Nicholas II, went on October 1, 1909 to the Mediterranean Sea, in the waters of which they were until March 1910. During this time, many different exercises and exercises were carried out. 1911 - 1913 "Aurora" remained a training ship, having made long voyages to Thailand, on about. Java.
In July 1914, the accumulated knot of contradictions between the countries of the two blocs - the Entente and Germany with its allies - broke, and the First World War began. In mid-August, after almost a ten-year break, the Aurora was included in the warships, she was enlisted in the 2nd cruiser brigade. All the ships of this brigade were built before the Russo-Japanese War, so the command sought to use them only as a sentinel service.
In November-December 1914, the Aurora surveyed the fairways leading from the Gulf of Finland to the Gulf of Bothnia. The Aurora and Diana, which was also included in this compound, spent the winter in Sveaborg, where they underwent some modernization during this time. Then - again sentinel and skerry service.
Only during the 1916 campaign did the Aurora happen to take part directly in the hostilities. At that time, the cruiser was at the disposal of the command of the Naval Corps, where they took exams in ship management on it. Over the course of that year, the cruiser's 75mm guns were re-equipped to be able to fire at low-flying, low-speed aircraft, which was enough to successfully fire on World War I aircraft. So, while in the Gulf of Riga, Aurora successfully repelled attacks from the air.
But the ship needed repairs, which is why on September 6, 1916, the Aurora arrived in Kronstadt. In September, she was transferred to Petrograd to the outfitting wall of the Admiralty Plant. During the repair, the second bottom in the MKO area was replaced, new boilers and repaired steam engines were received. The armament of the cruiser was also modernized: the maximum elevation angle of the 152-mm guns and, accordingly, the maximum firing range were increased; places were prepared for the installation of three 76.2-mm anti-aircraft guns of the F.F. Lender system, which, however, were installed only in 1923.
On February 27, 1917, a strike began at the Admiralty and Franco-Russian factories, which were carrying out repairs. The commander of the Aurora, M. I. Nikolsky, wanting to prevent a riot on the ship, opened fire on the sailors who tried to go ashore with a revolver, for which he was eventually shot dead by the rebel team. From that moment on, ship commanders were elected by the ship's committee.
From October 24, 1917, the Aurora took part directly in the revolutionary events: on the orders of the Provisional Revolutionary Committee (VRC), on that day the cruiser went up the Bolshaya Neva from the outfitting wall of the plant to the Nikolaevsky bridge, drawn by the junkers, forcing the latter to leave it. Then the Aurora electricians brought the bridge openings together, thereby connecting Vasilyevsky Island with the city center. The next day, all the strategic objects of the city were in the hands of the Bolsheviks. By agreement with the secretary of the Military Revolutionary Committee V. A. Antonov-Ovseenko, "Aurora" "shortly before the start of the attack of the Winter Palace on the signal shot of Petropavlovka will give a couple of blank shots from a six-inch gun." At 21:40 a shot from the guns of the Peter and Paul Fortress followed, and five minutes later the Aurora fired one blank shot from the bow 152-mm gun, which made her famous. However, the assault on the Winter Palace was not directly connected with this shot, since it began later.
At the end of October 1922, the cruiser was reactivated to be used as a training ship for the Baltic Fleet in the future. On a holiday on February 23, 1923, despite the fact that the Aurora was still technically unprepared, the flag and guis were hoisted on the cruiser. In June 1923, the ship's hull was significantly repaired, a little later it was re-equipped, including the artillery cellars and elevators. So, the Aurora received ten 130-mm guns (instead of 152-mm), two 76.2-mm Lender anti-aircraft guns, two pairs of 7.62-mm Maxim machine guns. July 18 conducted sea trials, and in the fall the cruiser took part in the maneuvers of the ships of the Baltic Fleet.
But the canonization of Aurora began earlier. On August 3, 1923, the Central Executive Committee took patronage over the cruiser, i.e. supreme body of state power. This immediately raised the ideological and political status of the ship, elevating it to the rank of a symbol of the revolution.
In 1924, the Aurora made its first long-distance voyage under the Soviet flag: the cruiser circled Scandinavia, reached Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. Until 1927, the ship participated in various campaigns (mainly in the territorial waters of the USSR). On November 2, 1927, in honor of the 10th anniversary of the revolution, Aurora was awarded the only state award at that time - the Order of the Red Banner:
“The Presidium, with sincere admiration, remembering the struggle of the Aurora cruiser in the front lines of the revolution on the days of the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution, awards it with the Order of the Red Banner for the distinctions it showed during the Days of October.
(From the decision of the CEC.) "
In the same year, the epic film "October" was filmed, where "Aurora" also took part in the filming. These two events made the cruiser even more famous.
Since 1928, the cruiser again became a training ship and annually made training trips on board with cadets abroad. In particular, Aurora visited Copenhagen, Swinemünd, Oslo, Bergen. A visit to Bergen in August 1930 was the last foreign campaign for the Aurora due to the deterioration of the boilers (a third of them were decommissioned). The cruiser needed a major overhaul, which he went to at the end of 1933. In 1935, for various reasons, including because it was not practical to repair the morally and technically obsolete ship, the repair was stopped. Now it has become non-self-propelled due to the fact that the workers of the plant. Marty did not have time to replace the boilers during the repair, the Aurora had to become a training guard: she was taken to the Eastern Kronstadt raid, where first-year cadets of naval schools practiced on it.
According to some researchers, in 1941 the Aurora was planned to be excluded from the fleet, but this was prevented by the outbreak of World War II. When there was a threat of the exit of German troops to Leningrad, the cruiser was immediately included in the air defense system of Kronstadt. Back in June 1941, the Aurora cadets went to the front, then a gradual reduction in the cruiser crew began (by the beginning of the war - 260 people), which was distributed to the active ships of the Baltic Fleet or to the front.
By the beginning of the war, Aurora had ten 130-mm guns, four 76.2-mm anti-aircraft guns, three 45-mm guns, and one Maxim machine gun. From July 1941, artillery weapons began to be dismantled from the Aurora and used either on other ships (for example, on the gunboats of the Chudskaya military flotilla), or used as part of land batteries. On July 9, 1941, a special-purpose artillery battery was formed from 9 130-mm cruiser guns. From the guns refined in the arsenals of Leningrad and Kronstadt, the 2nd battery was soon formed, and both were transferred to the 42nd Army of the Leningrad Front. In the history of the defense of Leningrad, they are known as battery "A" ("Aurora") and battery "B" ("Baltiets" / "Bolshevik"). Of the actual crew of the Aurora, only a small number were in the personnel of Battery A. Battery "A" opened fire on the advancing enemy for the first time on September 6, 1941. Then, for a week, the battery fought German tanks, fighting in complete encirclement to the last shell. By the end of the eighth day of fighting, out of 165 personnel, only 26 came out to their own.
The Aurora cruiser itself took part in the fighting near Leningrad on September 8, 1941. The crew remaining on the ship had to repel German air raids, and on September 16, according to eyewitnesses, the Aurora anti-aircraft gunners managed to shoot down one enemy aircraft. At the same time, the Aurora was constantly under artillery fire, which from time to time was carried out by German batteries until the final lifting of the blockade of Leningrad. In total, during the war, the cruiser received at least 7 hits. At the end of November, living conditions on the cruiser became unbearable, and the crew was transferred to the shore.
So the People's Commissar of the USSR Navy N. G. Kuznetsov spoke about the modest, but still significant participation of the Aurora in the defense of Leningrad:
“The Aurora cruiser did not represent a serious combat value, but carried out all possible service throughout the war years. Long-term service falls to the share of individual ships, even after they have “lost” their initial combat qualities. This is the cruiser Aurora.
In the middle of 1944, it was decided to create the Leningrad Nakhimov Naval School. Part of the Nakhimovites was planned to be placed on a floating base, which was temporarily supposed to be the Aurora. However, according to the decision of A. A. Zhdanov, the Aurora cruiser was to be 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." Immediately, work began on restoring the watertightness of the cruiser's hull, which received numerous damages. During more than three years of overhaul (from mid-July 1945 to mid-November 1948), the following were repaired: the hull, propellers, onboard steam engines, onboard propeller shafts, onboard machine shaft brackets, the remaining boilers; reorganization was also carried out in connection with the new function of the mother ship. (Unfortunately, this reorganization had a negative impact on the preservation of the historical appearance of the cruiser. By the way, this was also affected by the participation of the Aurora in the role of the Varyag in the film of the same name, filmed in 1947) On November 17, 1948, the cruiser took its place for the first time on the eternal parking lot on the Bolshaya Nevka. Immediately on the "Aurora" was placed the graduation company of Nakhimov. From now until 1961
November 17, 1948 the cruiser "Aurora" was placed on the "eternal parking" at the quay wall of the Bolshaya Nevka. Since then, the legendary ship has become one of the main symbols of St. Petersburg, and the history of its service is covered with myths and legends.
Russian naval commander, Admiral Z. P. Rozhestvensky loved a non-standard approach to standard processes. Among the admiral's favorite quirks was the habit, which amused the sailors, of arbitrarily giving out "nicknames" to warships under his command. So, the battleship Sisoy Veliky became the Invalid Shelter, the yacht Svetlana became the Maid, the cruiser Admiral Nakhimov was named the Idiot, and the Aurora was awarded the title Prostitute Podzabornaya.
We are not responsible for Rozhdestvensky, but he would know what kind of ship he called!
The appearance of the legend
Contrary to the patriotic role of the ship in the history of the country, there is an opinion that the famous cruiser was built abroad. In fact, the miracle of shipbuilding arose in the same place where it ended its glorious path - in St. Petersburg. The development of the project began in 1895, but only in July 1897 a contract was signed with the Society of Franco-Russian Factories for the manufacture of machines, boilers and all the mechanisms listed in the specification. Such a late deadline for reaching an agreement was due to the reluctance of the management to share the drawings with the Baltic Plant, and over the next six years, the Admiralty Izhora and Aleksandrovsky iron foundries, the Ya.S. Perm. In total, four ship builders, officers of the Corps of Naval Engineers, were directly involved in the construction of the cruiser from September 1896 until the end of sea trials, that is, for almost eight years. Unfortunately, the author of the cruiser project is still unknown - two names are mentioned in different sources: K.M. Tokarevsky and De Grofe, and officially the construction was carried out at the New Admiralty plant, under the leadership of the Franco-Russian factories.
Battle glory
The Aurora is known to many contemporaries only by the ambiguous fact of its naval biography, as the ship whose guns gave the signal to storm the Winter Palace. But the cruiser participated neither more nor less in four wars and two revolutions. Emperor Nicholas II himself, after the battle of Tsushima, telegraphed the crew: “I heartily thank you, commanders, officers and the crew of the cruisers Oleg, Aurora and Zhemchug for their unrequited, honest service in a difficult battle. May you all be consoled by the consciousness of a holy duty .Nicholas II". In 1968, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the cruiser "Aurora" for the outstanding services of the Aurora sailors in the Great October Socialist Revolution and the protection of its gains, fruitful work in promoting military and revolutionary traditions and in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces was awarded the order October Revolution, and in the harsh years of the Great Patriotic War, the sailors of the Aurora took an active part in the heroic defense of Leningrad on the Duderhof Heights, as one of the paintings exhibited in the museum on the Aurora tells about.
The revolutionary nature of the ship
A rebellious ship is not glorious with a single shot. A few years before the historical events of 1917, in 1905, the disarmed Aurora was in the port of Manila under the control of the Americans after the Battle of Tsushima. The Philippine Islands turned out to be a prison for miraculously surviving sailors, forced to eat rotten food, unable to contact their relatives, seized by a brewing outburst of anger. They managed to raise an international signal on the mast, symbolizing the beginning of a riot, which led to the arrival on board of local police and port officials. The Aurors put forward their ultimatum - improved nutrition and immediate distribution of letters addressed to the sailors. The conditions were accepted by the Americans, but immediately led to a new outbreak of rebellion - opened envelopes and read letters, finally, informed the sailors about the horrors of Bloody Sunday. Upon returning to Russia, most of the sailors were decommissioned from the ship - in this way the tsarist government sought to separate the existing combat crews in order to avoid revolutionary sentiments. Attempts were unsuccessful, and in the future it was the sailors, including recruits, who formed the revolutionary backbone of Russia.
historical shot
The volley that signaled the assault on the Winter Palace on October 25, 1917 is one of the most colorful legends about the cruiser. Rumor has it that the beauty who boarded the ship, despite the well-known saying about a woman on a ship, the sailors not only did not drive away, but did not dare to disobey. A pale-faced, tall and slender girl of unearthly beauty gave the order “Blow!”, And then disappeared from sight. At the moment, it is not known for certain who dared to become the ghost of the Aurora, but most historians tend to believe that he was the famous journalist, Soviet writer and revolutionary Larisa Reisner. They say that she was sent to the Aurora not by chance, they purely psychologically calculated that such beautiful woman no sailor will refuse. Yes, and the shot, according to historians, was fired at 21:40, while the assault began after midnight, which, alas, does not confirm the theory of the Aurora's signal function in the capture. Nevertheless, the Aurora cruiser is depicted on the Order of the October Revolution, which he himself was awarded in 1967.
Explosions and drunken sailors
And where without myths about alcohol and its consequences? Recently, curious information has appeared from various sources about the participation of drunken revolutionary sailors of the Aurora in the explosion of Fort Pavel in 1923. It is even rumored that drunken sailors set fire to the mine depot located there. In July 1923, several sailors sailed here on a boat from the battleship "Paris Commune" (formerly "Sevastopol"). The "rest" of the sailors ended with a big fire. Cadets from the cruiser "Aurora" tried to put out a burning mine set on fire by sailors from the "Paris Commune". The fort rumbled for several days, and, they say, in all of Kronstadt there was not a single whole glass left. According to one of the members of the current crew of the cruiser, four sailors died during the fire, and many were awarded medals for their heroic help in extinguishing. The authors of the brochure "Forts of Kronstadt" were among the first to voice the version of the cause of the explosion. In Soviet books this question was bypassed, it was left to think that the evil counter-revolution was to blame.
Cruiser Star Life
Every schoolboy who is going to visit St. Petersburg definitely wants to visit the legendary ship that served faithfully in so many battles and is now a branch of the Central Naval Museum. In fact, in addition to military merit and excursion programs, the Aurora did not bypass the path of show business: in 1946, the cruiser played the role of the no less famous colleague of the Varyag in the film of the same name. To match, the "make-up artists" had to work: they installed a fake fourth tube and several guns on the ship, built a commander's balcony in the stern and redesigned the bow. These two ships are completely different from each other, but for the undemanding viewer, the “fake” went unnoticed. At the same time, the Aurora's hull was reinforced with concrete, which already meant that the ship could not be restored, which determined the future fate of the ship.
Ship or layout
It is believed that the Aurora is the only domestic ship that has retained its original appearance to this day. The legendary cruiser was put on "eternal parking" in front of the St. Petersburg Hotel, however, this is already half the ship that the rumor does not stop: the ship itself was towed to the village of Ruchi near the coastal strip of the Gulf of Finland, sawn into pieces, flooded and taken away by the patriots of the 80s. During the reconstruction in 1984, most of the main part and superstructures of the unforgettable Aurora were replaced, the current museum ship on the new hull used the technology of welds instead of the rivets that distinguished the original. The batteries, which included guns removed from the cruiser, died on the Dudergof heights, another gun was installed on the Baltiets armored train. About the historic gun that heralded the “new era of the proletarian revolution”, the senior warrant officer, with a sly wink at us, said: “Read carefully the plate on the shield, it says that a historic shot was fired from the cruiser’s bow gun. And about the fact that they shot specifically from this gun - it is not said anywhere. ”
Avrora - Cruiser of the 1st rank of the Baltic Fleet, famous for her 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 ...
It all started with the fact that the construction of the ship dragged on for 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 .
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 in the Far East. September 25, 1903 "Aurora" with a crew of 559 people under the command of Captain 1st Rank IV 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.
April 5, 1904 "Aurora" returned to Kronstadt, where she 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 the "Idiot", the battleship "Sisoy the Great" - the "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 "Maid", and "Aurora" was awarded the title "Prostitute under the fence". 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 anything 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 the ports of the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, 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 assigned the task of carrying out patrol service at the mouth of the 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 already on August 26, when the German light cruiser Magdeburg landed on stones off 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 during the war served both the Russians and the British in good stead.
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 surprise 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 instruction, which ordered 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 a much more tempting prey than a veteran of the Russian-Japanese war. A torpedo hit caused a detonation of 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 cover in skerries. And again, you should not blame the 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. The 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 at that time. And the common artistic cliché "Aurora salvo" is purely grammatically incorrect, since a "volley" is simultaneously fired shots from at least two barrels. It follows from this that the legends about the Aurora as a symbol of 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 noticeable 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 ...
Next year will pass under the sign of a big and controversial anniversary - the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution. In anticipation of this date, Rodina will publish unknown documents and memoirs, analytical articles and transcripts of discussions, photographs and verbal portraits actors 1917. And it opens the anniversary column "VECTORS OF THE REVOLUTION" with its main symbol.
I heard this text on March 30, 2003 on board the cruiser "Aurora", where the writer-sailor Viktor Konetsky was commemorated. He loved this ship very much. And those who came here loved Konetsky very much.
Tables were laid in the wardroom. They spoke quietly and not only about sad things. When Konetsky's friend from the Naval Academy, the St. Petersburg actor Ivan Krasko, began to read this letter, the admirals and officers also began to smile. But then they suddenly reached for scarves ...
_Igor Kots, editor-in-chief of Rodina
"Having received 18 shells in battle..."
Let's look at the article of the dashing Mars Fleet L. I call him so familiarly, because he loves artistic images very much. Let's start with the title of his article - "Pirate Cruiser".
"A ship of dubious fame, he writes, participated in the sadly ended campaign of the 2nd Pacific squadron of Admiral Rozhdestvensky to the Far East and even managed to avoid death at the bottom of the Tsushima Strait - the cruiser broke through to Manila.
Here the most interesting word is "even" and also "at the bottom of the Tsushima Strait".
Ships do not die "at the bottom", but in the waves of the ocean. You still have to get to the bottom. And one must be able to avoid death in battle and break through the encirclement of enemy ships, having received 18 shells in battle, with the commander and 14 sailors killed, having 8 wounded officers and 75 wounded sailors on board ...
You, Mr. L., just try to imagine what it means for the crew to remain in battle without a commander. The ability to maneuver, the ability to shoot, the ability to close up holes, the ability to evade torpedoes and shells, the ability to work for all the dead and wounded, and, most importantly, not to lower the flag, but to break through the enemy’s encirclement, which is ten times stronger than you both in number and in terms of quality, and still walk from Tsushima to Manila on a ship riddled with shells.
"What are you dreaming about, cruiser Aurora, at the hour when the morning rises over the Neva?"
A spectacular ending for a novice writer in a literary circle. Aurora dreams of many things, a lot. Let's take the collection of articles "Russian Naval Art", volume 2, p. 364. An officer of the cruiser "Aurora" who participated in the Tsushima battle writes:
“Our teams held themselves in battle beyond praise. Each sailor showed remarkable composure, resourcefulness and fearlessness. Golden people and hearts! They cared not so much about themselves as about their commanders, warning about every enemy shot, covering the officers at the moment of rupture. Covered with wounds and blood, the sailors did not leave their places, preferring to die at the guns. They didn’t even go for dressings! You send, and they: "It will be in time, later, now there is no time!" Only thanks to the dedication of the team, we forced the Japanese cruisers to withdraw, sinking two ships , and four incapacitated, with a large roll. "
You write: "Aurora" is a monument to the Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless."
L. writes: "The revolutionary ferocity of Russian sailors, their sadistic hatred of naval officers has not yet been explained by historians. Were they a response to the specific aristocratic rudeness of graduates of the Naval Corps, or were they formed by the stress of service in a closed room of cabins and cockpits?"
What a hell of a hair dryer can be stressed if a thousand years sailors lived "in a closed room"? Of course, this is not a suite for you at the Astoria Hotel. And did they go to the nok-for-bom-bram ray in Perth at a height higher than the Pillar of Alexandria? Nice enclosed space!
Now about the ferocity and sadistic hatred of officers, which our historians still cannot explain.
Have you ever tried molting, Mr. L.? A line is a thin rope of white yarn, no thicker than an inch and a half in circumference.
"Specific aristocratic rudeness of graduates of the Naval Corps", of course, was. But you read Boris Lavrenev or Sergei Kolbasiev. Did Nakhimov, Lazarev, Ushakov and hundreds of others, whom Russia is proud of, not finish the Naval Corps?
Why are you, Mr. L., so angry at the sailors? Officers and admirals educate sailors and lead them into battle. Yes, for one voyage of the Aurora to Siam (autumn - winter 1911 - 1912) with the Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich on board, the sailors should have gone berserk. So much tyranny, rudeness, Boris Vladimirovich managed to show on the campaign, not at all embarrassed by either sailor or officer eyes. He brought three chefs with him and 500 bottles of champagne.
You write further: "... the sailors of the Aurora, together with the" petrels of the revolution "from Kronstadt, tried to capture Petrograd in July 1917, and in October, having shelled the city, they finally earned their notorious fame of the" cruiser of the revolution ..."
Yes, the Aurora did not fire (it "fired" at you) at St. Petersburg, except for one idle clap in the direction of Zimny.
Lieutenant Commander Viktor Konetsky
ONLY THE FACTS
And the guns of the cruiser smashed the Nazis
- On May 11, 1900, the cruiser was solemnly launched at the St. Petersburg shipyard "New Admiralty". Received the name "Aurora" - in memory of the sailing frigate of the same name, which fought heroically during the Eastern War of 1854 near Petropavlovsk-on-Kamchatka.
- In 1903 he became part of the Russian Navy.
- Participated in the Russo-Japanese and World War I.
- On October 25, 1917, he fired a blank shot from a tank gun, which became the signal to storm the Winter Palace. From the "Aurora" was transferred written by V.I. Lenin's appeal "To the citizens of Russia!"
- Since 1923 she became a training ship.
- During the Great Patriotic War, Aurora sailors smashed the Nazis in the area of Voronya Gora and Pulkovo Heights from the main caliber guns taken from the ship.
- November 17, 1948 anchored at the place of eternal parking at the Petrograd embankment of Bolshaya Nevka.
- In 1956, a branch of the Central Naval Museum was opened on the ship.
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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Work schedule
Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun — from 11.00 to 17.15
Mon, Fri - non-working day
"Aurora" refers to armored cruisers of the "Diana" type, built in Russian Empire in late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century. 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 the sailing frigate Aurora, which became famous 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 starred 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 sights are located next to the ship - embankments, a monument to the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet, the Noble Nest house, the home of the Baltic Fleet.