The main event in the history of the Aurora cruiser is considered to be a blank shot, which became the signal for the storming of the Winter Palace during the Great October Socialist Revolution.

Much less is known about the main military event in the history of the cruiser - the participation of the Aurora in the Tsushima battle, tragic for the Russian fleet.

The Aurora is undoubtedly a lucky ship. The cruiser, whose technical characteristics were significantly inferior to the most modern ships of that time, not only managed to survive the battle, but also avoided the shameful participation of lowering the flag in front of the victorious enemy.

The ship, which was launched on May 24, 1900 in the presence of the emperor Nicholas II and empresses Maria Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna, was accepted into the Russian fleet in June 1903 and by the time the Russo-Japanese War began, it was one of the newest.

The latest, but by no means the most perfect. Problems with the Aurora began at the design stage and never ended. The deadlines for the construction of the vessel were repeatedly disrupted, and when it came to testing, the engineers clutched their heads from a huge number of shortcomings and shortcomings. Due to the congestion of state-owned shipyards in St. Petersburg, where the Aurora was being built, work on its construction was carried out in a hurry and at the same time with a lack of workers.

The machines and boilers of the Aurora turned out to be unreliable, the cruiser never reached the planned speed indicators, and there were many questions about the armament of the ship.

Peter Pickart

The ship "Lefort". Unknown artist

I. K. Aivazovsky. "Death of the ship

K. V. Krugovikhin "The wreck of the ship" Ingermanland "August 30, 1842 off the coast of Norway", 1843.

I. K. Aivazovsky "The ship" Twelve Apostles ". 1897

First campaign

The tests of the cruiser continued in early 1903, and it took a lot of time to bring the Aurora to perfection, but it was not there. The aggravated situation in the Far East required the immediate strengthening of the Pacific squadron, for which a special detachment of ships was formed in the Baltic. The Naval Ministry intended to include the Aurora in this detachment, for which it was ordered to complete the tests as soon as possible.

On June 16, 1903, the Aurora officially became part of the Russian Imperial Fleet and was almost immediately included in the detachment of Rear Admiral Virenius, focusing on the Mediterranean Sea for the speedy follow to Port Arthur.

September 25, 1903 "Aurora" under the command of the captain of the 1st rank Sukhotina left the Great Kronstadt raid, going to join the detachment of Virenius.

Cruiser "Aurora" on trial June 14, 1903. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

In this campaign, the Aurora had a lot of technical malfunctions, including regular problems with the machines, which caused extreme dissatisfaction with the command. While in Suez, the crew was forced to fix problems with the steering gear. In Djibouti, on January 31, 1904, the Aurora found the news of the outbreak of war with Japan, and on February 2, the highest order to return to Russia.

The Aurora reached the Russian military base in Libau on April 5, 1904, where her first campaign ended.

Aurora's ship's priest died from "friendly fire"

The military situation for Russia was developing unfavorably, and the Russian command decided to form the Second Pacific Squadron, which was to pass through three oceans and change the situation in the maritime theater of operations.

At the Aurora, work was carried out to eliminate technical shortcomings and strengthen weapons. The new commander of the Aurora was the captain of the 1st rank Evgeny Egoriev.

On October 2, 1904, the Second Pacific Squadron left Libava in four separate echelons to proceed to the Far East. "Aurora" led the third echelon of ships, consisting of the destroyers "Imperfect" and "Bodry", the icebreaker "Ermak", the transports "Anadyr", "Kamchatka" and "Malaya". On October 7, Russian ships were divided into small detachments. "Aurora" was in the 4th detachment under the command of Rear Admiral Oscar Enquist and was supposed to move along with the cruiser "Dmitry Donskoy" and transport "Kamchatka".

The tension that prevailed on Russian ships led to the fact that in the North Sea, off the coast of Great Britain, the Russian squadron mistook fishing ships for enemy destroyers. In the ensuing chaos, the Russian sailors fired not only at the fishermen, but also at each other.

As a result of such "friendly fire" "Aurora" was damaged, and the ship's priest Father Anastasy was mortally wounded.

Coal loading record holders

The rest of the trip went fairly smoothly. The team on the Aurora got close-knit, which was greatly facilitated by its commander.

Chief ship officer doctor Kravchenko wrote in his diary: “The first impression of the Aurora is the most favorable. The team is cheerful, cheerful, looks straight into the eyes, and not frowningly, does not walk on the deck, but flies straight, following orders. All this is good to see. At first, I was struck by the abundance of coal. There is a lot of it on the upper deck, and even more in the battery deck; three-quarters of the saloon are littered with it. The stuffiness is therefore unbearable, but the officers do not even think to lose heart and not only do not complain about the inconvenience, but, on the contrary, proudly inform me that so far their loading cruiser has been the first, took the first prizes and is generally in very good standing with the admiral.

Leisure on the Aurora was provided by an amateur theatrical troupe of sailors and officers, whose performances were highly appreciated by sailors from other ships.

The crew of the Aurora was also very strong in the matter of loading coal. So, on November 3, 1300 tons of coal were loaded onto the Aurora in conditions of unbearable heat at a rate of 71 tons per hour, which was the best result in the entire squadron. And in the last days of December 1904, with a new load of fuel, the sailors of the Aurora broke their own record, showing a result of 84.8 tons of coal per hour.

If the mood of the crew and its preparation did not cause anxiety among Captain Egoriev, then this could not be said about the ship itself. The infirmary and the operating room were so badly arranged that they could not be used at all in the tropics. It was necessary to adapt new premises, to arrange their possible protection from artillery fire. All provisions were concentrated in almost one place, and therefore, if this part of the ship was flooded, 600 people would be left without food. Much of this kind had to be corrected. On the upper deck, it was necessary to arrange protection from the hits of wooden fragments of the masts and traverses from the same nets with sailor bunks from the spare Bullivin anti-mine nets to protect the servants of the guns. The inner wooden shields of the sides were broken and removed, which could give a lot of fragments, ”the Aurora commander wrote in March 1905, when a meeting with the enemy was already approaching.

The captain of the Aurora was one of the first to die

On May 1, 1905, the Second Pacific Squadron, after some reorganization and brief preparations, left the shores of Annam and headed for Vladivostok. "Aurora" took her place on the right outer side of the column of transports in the wake of the cruiser "Oleg". On May 10, in complete calm, the last coal loading took place, coal was taken with the expectation of having a reserve at the entrance to the Korea Strait, which should have been enough to Vladivostok. Soon after the separation of the transports, the cruisers Oleg, Aurora, Dmitry Donskoy and Vladimir Monomakh, together with the third armored detachment, formed the left wake column.

On the night of May 14, 1905, the Russian squadron entered the Korea Strait, where Japanese ships were already waiting for it.

For the Aurora, the Battle of Tsushima began with a skirmish with Japanese ships at 11:14. At the beginning of the battle, Aurora supported the cruiser Vladimir Monomakh with fire, which was firing with the Japanese reconnaissance cruiser Izumi, forcing the latter to withdraw.

With the advent of the third and fourth Japanese detachments, which launched an attack on Russian transports, the Aurora, covering the transport ships, found itself under heavy enemy fire. The cruiser received the first damage.

But it was really hard for the crew of the Aurora at about three o'clock in the afternoon, when the Japanese ships managed to get close and put the Russian cruisers under crossfire. Damage followed one after another, as a result of one of the hits, a fire started dangerously close to the bomb cellar, fraught with an explosion of ammunition. It was only thanks to the dedication of the sailors of the Aurora that the catastrophe was averted.

At 15:12, a 75-millimeter shell hit the gangway of the forward bridge. Its fragments and fragments of the ladder fell through the viewing slot into the wheelhouse and, reflected from its dome, scattered in different directions, injuring everyone in the wheelhouse. The commander of the Aurora, Captain 1st Rank Evgeny Romanovich Yegoriev, was mortally wounded in the head and soon died. One of the senior officers took command of the ship.

The crew did not drop the honor of the flag

Twenty minutes later, the Aurora barely dodged an enemy torpedo. The impact of a 203-mm Japanese projectile resulted in holes, as a result of which the compartment of the bow torpedo tube was flooded.

Despite losses and damage, the Aurora continued to fight. Fragments knocked down the flag of the ship six times, but the Russian sailors again hoisted it into place.

At about half past five in the evening, the Russian cruisers were covered from Japanese fire by a column of Russian battleships, which gave the Aurora crew time to catch their breath.

The final artillery battle ended at about seven in the evening. The defeat of the Russian squadron was obvious. The surviving ships did not retain the overall formation and control, the remaining part of the squadron left the battlefield, literally in all directions.

By the evening of May 14, her commander Yevgeny Yegoriev, as well as nine sailors, died on the Aurora. Five more sailors died from their wounds. 8 officers and 74 lower ranks were injured.

By ten in the evening, the cruising detachment of Admiral Enquist consisted of three ships - in addition to the Aurora, these were Oleg and Zhemchug. In the dark, Japanese destroyers tried to attack Russian ships, and the Aurora had to dodge Japanese torpedoes more than ten times during the night of May 14-15.

Admiral Enquist several times he tried to turn the cruisers to Vladivostok, but the Japanese blocked the way, and the naval commander no longer believed in the possibility of a breakthrough.

The dead were buried at sea

As a result, the cruisers headed southwest, leaving the Korea Strait and breaking away from the enemy destroyers.

The night was hot for the doctors of the Aurora: those who, in the heat of battle, did not pay attention to the wounds, reached out to the infirmary. Those who remained in the ranks were engaged in minor repairs, waiting for new attacks by the Japanese.

During the Battle of Tsushima, the Aurora fired 303 152mm, 1282 75mm and 320 37mm shells at the enemy.

At noon on May 15, Admiral Enquist and his staff moved to the Aurora, taking command of the cruiser that had lost its commander. At about four o'clock in the afternoon, sailors who died and died from wounds were buried at sea; the body of Captain Egoriev was going to be buried on the shore.

Two hours later, a military squadron was noticed from the Aurora, which was initially mistaken for the Japanese, but the ships turned out to be American - the Philippine port of Manila was under US control. On the same day, the Aurora and other Russian ships anchored in the port of Manila.

Damage to the Aurora received in the Tsushima battle. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Hostages of Manila

The United States in the Russo-Japanese War officially took a neutral position, but tacitly expressed support for Japan. Therefore, on May 24, an American Admiral Tran received a directive from Washington - Russian ships must either disarm or leave the port within 24 hours.

Admiral Enquist asked Petersburg and received the following answer: “In view of the need to repair the damage, I allow you to give an obligation to the American government not to participate in hostilities. Nicholas."

In this situation, this decision was the only correct one - the damaged Russian ships could no longer change the situation that had developed after the defeat at Tsushima. The war was approaching a disappointing outcome for Russia, and it was already pointless to demand new victims from the sailors.

On May 26, 1905, the Aurora team gave the American administration an undertaking not to participate in further hostilities, the gun locks were removed from the cruiser and handed over to the American arsenal. The war for the crews of Russian ships is over.

40 wounded from the Aurora were sent to an American hospital. A few days later, hired local workers began to repair the cruiser.

Return

The longer the forced stay in Manila continued, the more discipline fell on the Aurora. News of the revolutionary unrest in Russia caused ferment among the lower ranks, which the officers managed to calm down with difficulty, but still.

The repair of the Aurora was completed in August 1905, shortly before the peace treaty between Russia and Japan was signed in Portsmouth. Russian ships began preparations for returning home. The captain of the 2nd rank was appointed the new commander of the Aurora barsch.

On October 10, 1905, after the final approval of the Russian-Japanese treaty by the parties, official Washington lifted all restrictions on the actions of Russian ships.

On the morning of October 15, the Aurora, as part of a detachment of ships that were ordered to return to the Baltic, headed for Russia.

The return trip was also lengthy. New 1906 "Aurora" met in the Red Sea, where she received an order to go to Russia on her own. At the same time, 83 sailors from the cruiser Oleg, who were subject to demobilization, went on board. After that, the Aurora turned into a real “demobilization cruiser” - from the crew of the Aurora itself, about 300 lower ranks were to be demobilized upon their return to Russia.

In early February 1906, while staying in the French Cherbourg, an incident occurred that prophetically indicated the future glory of the Aurora as a ship of the revolution. The French police received information that the ship's crew had purchased a batch of revolvers for the revolutionaries in Russia. A search on the Aurora, however, yielded no results, and the cruiser continued on her way home.

On February 19, 1906, the Aurora anchored in the port of Libava, completing the longest military campaign in its history, which lasted 458 days.

On March 10, 1906, after the dismissal of all sailors subject to demobilization, a little more than 150 people remained in the crew of the cruiser. "Aurora" was transferred to the fleet reserve.

11 and a half years remained before the main shot of the cruiser ...

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Cruiser Aurora". The number one ship of the Russian Navy. A symbol ship, a legend ship, a myth ship and... a curse ship. Protected by the one in whose honor she was named, the Aurora outlived her "sisters" by almost a century and, by a whim of fate, seems to be doomed to immortality.

Aurora Guardian Angel

There is a good tradition in the Russian fleet - to give new ships the names of their glorious predecessors who have served their time. So the armored cruiser of the 1st rank, laid down in 1897 at the New Admiralty shipyard in St. Petersburg, was named after the Aurora sailing frigate, which heroically fought against the superior forces of the English squadron during the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in 1854.

In turn, the name of the frigate was given by Nicholas I in honor of one of the most beautiful women in St. Petersburg - the maid of honor of the Empress Aurora Demidova-Karamzina, with whom the emperor was probably secretly in love. But over this lady, a family curse, a kind of "crown of celibacy" weighed heavily.

All the men who decided to connect their fate with her left prematurely for another world. No wonder this fatal woman was called in secular salons "Dawn, betrothed to death." But she herself lived a long life and did not consider herself unhappy, pursued by evil fate, because she loved and was loved.

Upon learning that the new cruiser would bear her name, Aurora Karlovna exclaimed:

Oh, if only this would not have a tragic effect on his fate!

But the fears of the woman, who apparently became the guardian angel of the Aurora, were in vain. This generally ordinary cruiser, which did not show itself in anything special, ironically ascended to the very pinnacle of glory, lived an incredibly long life for a warship, and its journey is not over yet.

miraculous rescues

"Aurora" was the "younger sister" of the same type of armored cruisers "Diana" and "Pallada". The attitude of sailors to these three "goddesses of domestic production" was very skeptical. These ships had a lot of design flaws, their mechanisms often failed. They did not differ either in speed or in the power of weapons.

But the angel kept the Aurora. For the first time, he saved her from certain death in the Battle of Tsushima. The cruiser detachment of Rear Admiral Enquist carried out the task of covering the transports. But it turned out to be beyond the power of four cruisers, which were hit by heavy fire from 16 Japanese ships. During the battle, the Aurora received 18 hits from medium and small caliber shells, which caused quite serious damage to the cruiser.

Cruiser "Aurora" (1916)

Naval artillery suffered especially significant damage. The crew lost 15 men killed and 82 wounded. The commander of the cruiser, Captain 1st Rank Evgeny Yegoriev, was killed, mortally wounded in the head by a fragment of an enemy shell at a combat post, in the wheelhouse. The Aurora itself, having fired almost two thousand shells, did not cause serious damage to the enemy.

From a heroic death, the Russian cruisers were saved by a column of battleships that accidentally approached, who drove the enemy away. Nevertheless, the pretty battered ships could not break through to Vladivostok and went south, to the Philippine port of Manila, where they were interned until the end of the war by the US authorities, under whose protectorate the Philippines was at that time.

Stored the fate of the "Aurora" and the First World War. On October 11, 1914, at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, the German submarine U-26 discovered two Russian cruisers: Aurora and Pallada (not the “big sister” who died in Port Arthur, but a new cruiser built after the Russo-Japanese War ).

The commander of the submarine, Captain-Lieutenant von Berkheim, correctly assessed the situation and chose to launch a torpedo at a more tasty target - the Pallada. The new cruiser sank along with the entire crew, and the veteran managed to hide in skerries. So the Aurora escaped death for the second time.

In general, this “ordinary goddess” has not done anything heroic in the entire history of its existence.

The shot that wasn't there

“But what about the legendary shot that served as a signal for the storming of the Winter Palace and marked the beginning of a new era in the history of mankind?!” - you ask. There was no such shot. In October 1917, the Aurora continued to be overhauled, and all ammunition was removed from it. By chance, one blank charge was on board, and they fired it, thereby calling on the ships on the Neva "to be vigilant and ready." But it happened in the afternoon, long before the assault.

On October 24, the military revolutionary committee set the Aurora the task of restoring traffic along the Nikolaevsky bridge, which had been opened the day before by the junkers. Seeing the cruiser approaching the bridge, the junkers fled, and the ship's electricians managed to lower the spans. The ship itself ended up behind a bridge that cut it off from the Petropavlovka and the Winter Palace.

So he could not inflict damage on the defenders of the Provisional Government, even if he had ammunition. And the signal to storm the Winter Palace was given from the Peter and Paul Fortress. About 30 cannon salvos were fired from its bastions, but only two shells hit the palace - the artillerymen did not want to kill their compatriots.

There is no documentary evidence of the Aurora shot. The logbooks of 1917, in which all the actions of the ship's crew were scrupulously recorded, disappeared without a trace. And it can be said with full confidence that the heroic cruiser of the revolution is just one of the propaganda symbols and great myths of revolutionary power.

Mystical soul of the ship

Invisible mystical power and in the future repeatedly saved the "Aurora" from death. And every time they tried to destroy it, it turned into a disaster for the country. So, when in 1917 the command of the Baltic Fleet prepared an order to sink the cruiser in the fairway of the Gulf of Finland, on the outskirts of Kronstadt, in order to prevent German squadrons from reaching Petrograd, this was prevented by the revolutionary-minded crew of the ship - and a few months later the October Revolution took place.

In 1941, it was planned to withdraw the Aurora from the Navy and "put it on pins and needles" - and the Great Patriotic War began.

And in 1984, the Council of Ministers of the USSR decided to overhaul the legendary cruiser for the 70th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. By that time, the underwater part of the ship simply rotted, it was a continuous sieve. Water was pumped out of the holds day and night, even filling the bottom with a layer of concrete did not save.

A major reconstruction of the lower part of the hull was required. But the shipbuilders of the Zhdanovsky plant were given too little time for this business. And then the Deputy Minister of the shipbuilding industry, Igor Belousov, came up with a saving idea - to cut off the old underwater part, make the same new one and put the old surface part on top, and they did. And no one would have known about what happened, but the shipbuilders could not or did not dare to hand over the old hull for scrap.

They decided to hide the cut off part in the Luga Bay, near the village of Ruchi, where back in the 1930s, Luzhlag convicts were building “0obekt-200” - Komsomolsk-on-Baltic, the base of the Baltic Navy. This most modern city for those times was never inhabited: it was blown up at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War so as not to surrender to the enemy, and they did not begin to restore it. The remains of the pre-war concrete pier have been preserved. Not far from it, they decided to flood the Aurora hull, for which they dug a kind of trench at the bottom.

By that time, local residents had thoroughly ruined the legendary remains, removing everything they could: from bronze valves, steel ladders and portholes to copper sheathing sheets. And when they began to lower a 120-meter colossus into the trench, they missed, the hull did not lie down as it was intended, and part of it remained sticking out above the water.

On the day of the 70th anniversary of October, the updated Aurora was received by Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev himself. With reverence, he considered the famous six-inch gun that banged along Zimny, not suspecting that this was also a substitution: a real tank gun died in battles on the Dudergof heights as part of battery "A" along with other guns taken from the Aurora to protect Leningrad from fascist invaders .

And even more so, he could not see the underwater part of the cruiser, where the steel sheets were connected not with rivets, as before, but with welds. Then Gorbachev, having learned how he was cheated, tore and threw, but the deed is done, nothing can be corrected. "Aurora" again avenged the desecration of her - the collapse of the Soviet Union.

And yet, because of what all the fuss? Some experts argue that the current Aurora is not real, but just a replica of the legendary cruiser. But after all, only the lower part has been replaced, while the upper part has been preserved, including the interior of the premises. We will not deny the right to the title of a person to a disabled person who has lost his legs, which are replaced by prostheses?! "Aurora" retained the main thing - its name, mystical soul, guardian angel.

This summer, the cruiser will return from another major overhaul and will return to its usual place next to the quay wall. And it will no longer be a symbol of the revolution, but a monument to domestic shipbuilding. I would like to believe that there will be no more attempts to hand it over for scrap. It's dangerous, you know!

Mikhail YURIEV

The legendary Aurora is not just one of the symbols of the cultural capital of Russia, but also a full-fledged combat vehicle that has managed to take part in dozens of military clashes at sea. We offer you to get acquainted with the difficult fate of the cruiser "Aurora", a brief description.

The vessel belongs to the Diana class, cruiser of the 1st rank. The name of the car was given by the sailing frigate of the same name, which won fame in the Crimean War. From the middle of the last century (1948) it took its place at the Peter and Paul Embankment of St. Petersburg. The ship is included in the list of cultural heritage sites of the state.

The history of the creation of the ship

By the end of the 19th century, the political situation prompted the creation of a new Diana-class cruiser:

• initially, the reason was the contradictions with England, however, they were soon resolved without bloodshed;
• the next reason was the growing threat from Germany in the Baltic.

Thus, a new round of the arms race at sea was provoked, which led to the adjustment of the country's shipbuilding program from 1881. Changes were made in 1895 and included three carapace cruisers.

The Baltic Shipyard took up the order, literally a month after receiving the order, the engineers provided sketches of the machines. 4 variants with different displacements were developed, but only one received approval - a 6000-ton prototype, which was inspired by the latest English Talbot machine. S. K. Ratnik was engaged in the development of ships and sketches.

Immediately after the approval of the draft designs, a long stage of coordination began, which ended only by the winter of 1896. During the discussion, changes were made to the project and instead of 2 ships, 3 were laid down. It was the 3rd that became the famous Aurora, during the entire assembly period she lagged behind from the other two cars of the state order.

Since the beginning of construction (autumn 1896), difficulties arose:

• there was no ship steel in the required amount;
• The Admiralty Izhora Plant could not produce a channel for the battery and armor deck due to overload with orders.

The administration of the institution asked to extend the terms of work. This led to the transfer of part of the order to the Alexander iron foundry in order to complete the order in a short time.

The order of machines for the ship also influenced the construction time:

1. Kotlov;
2. machines;
3. Mechanisms of all nodes.

It was possible to sign a contract for the supply of all these elements of mechanization only in the summer of 1897; representatives of the Society-Franco-Russian Plants were selected for execution. The delay was due to the fact that the management did not want to transfer the drawings to the Baltic Shipyard. After the third ship appeared on the list, we managed to get a 2% discount on the supply of equipment for it. The total cost of the order reached 2.275 million rubles.

The backlog of "Aurora" was already large in the slipway period. When the rest of the vehicles were 60% ready (hulls), the legendary cruiser was only 28% complete.

During the construction, various officers and ship specialists were boarded. Thanks to their comments, changes were made to the torpedo armament, there were 3 devices.

By the spring of 1900, the legendary car was 78% assembled, devices were being installed on board.

The descent of the warship into the water took place in May 1900 (on the 11th or 24th according to various sources) at 11:15. The next morning, it began towing to the wall of the Franco-Russian plant - the installation of the main power units was coming. By this time, the displacement was 6731 tons.

In addition to the installation of machines, the following work was carried out on board:

• installation of a steam pipeline;
• auxiliary mechanisms;
• general ship systems.

Despite the fact that in the autumn of 1900 the commission decided that all the cruisers of the series were capable of moving to Kronstadt on their own, many works had not even begun yet:

1. Installation of tiller device;
2. Steam steering machine;
3. Electric steering system.

A significant part of the work remained at the implementation stage.

Two ships of the series, significantly ahead of the Aurora, participated in trials in the summer of 1900, which made it possible to identify serious shortcomings. Easily removable from 1901 began to be corrected on a lagging car. The main problem was the ports of 75 mm guns on the battery deck, the firing angles were significantly increased.

A serious problem during the construction was the lack of labor. It was associated with a serious loading of production capacities and an order for another 6 ships (transporter and battleships), which occupied the factories of the cultural capital. Among the most pressing problems:

• It was necessary to refine the fasteners, as shortcomings were identified during water resistance tests;
• The Izhora plant was not able to qualitatively perform the vertical armor of the conning tower; it appeared on the ship only in the spring of 1902;
• The most difficult was the completion of electrical equipment. At that time, the industry of the state was only mastering the production of such systems.

In the final, Hall anchors were installed on the ship - for the first time in the shipbuilding practice of the Russian Empire. Already in May 1902 the ship was 100% ready.

During the ferry to Kronstadt (July 28, 1902), control failed for a short time, the cruiser touched the edge of the canal, but escaped with minor damage to the propeller on the right side. After arrival, a 10-day preparation for testing began.

The total cost of the ship is estimated at 6.4 million rubles.

Description of design and technical characteristics

The level of electrification and mechanization of ships of this class at that time was the highest in the fleet. Otherwise, it was a classic layout, typical of the rest of the representatives, like "Diana".

In the event of damage and a leak, the built-in water pumping system could remove up to 2,900 tons of water from the hull every hour.

Vessels of much smaller displacement were hung on the sides of the cruiser:

• 2 steam boats;
• 16 and 18-oar boats;
• 12 and 14-oar boat;
• 2 yala;
• 2 six-oared whaleboats.

The suspension was carried out on davits equipped around the perimeter of the hull.

Vessel class

Structurally, the machine belongs to the class of armored cruisers, in terms of layout, description and deployed systems it was identical to warships of the same class, produced in the late 18th - early 19th centuries.

Displacement

The normal displacement of the ship is 6731 tons. All basic, permanent and variable loads can be estimated in tons. From the indicated value, most of the load fell on the hull - 38.8% of the displacement or 2621.36 tons.

Main load sections:

• power plant - 21.9%;
• normal supply of coal - 12%;
• armor - 10.5%;
• gun systems - 6;
• supply/team - 4.8.

The least load was given by auxiliary units and desalinated water. Accordingly, they occupied 3 and 2%.

Power plant

The steam equipment of the ship was 3 three-cylinder machines of the 3rd expansion. The total power exceeded 11.5 thousand hp, which made it possible to accelerate to 35.6 km / h or 19.2 knots. To set such a colossus in motion, three 3-blade propellers with a diameter of 4100 mm were used. Bronze screws were cast and rotated in different directions: the middle and right screws turned to the left, the left one rotated in the opposite direction.

24 Belleville steam boilers were mounted on board, which were later replaced by the Belleville-Dolgolenko system. Three boiler houses were allocated for the placement of equipment, above each of which a pipe was installed to remove smoke. The operating pressure of the boilers was 17.2 atm.

The boilers required a huge supply of water, which was constantly replenished. Storage was provided by tanks with a capacity of 467 tons, of which 135 were assigned to the life of sailors, and the rest to provide steam. The replenishment of the stock took place at the expense of Krug's desalination plants (2 units), which restored 60 tons of fresh water daily.

The fuel tanks of the boilers were coal pits equipped at each boiler room. Along the engine rooms between the armored and battery decks there were 8 pits with a supply of coal.

So it was possible to store up to 972 tons of coal, which made it possible to travel up to 4,000 miles at a speed within 10 knots.

The cruiser was powered by steam dynamos, which produced a direct current of 105 volts. Consumers of electricity were controls, household and lighting devices, winches of the ammunition supply system and a number of other units. For example, electrical devices raised anchors.

Crew

The premises for the crew of the ship made it possible to accommodate 570 people, not counting the flagship of the formation and headquarters officers.

Decks and armor

Equipped with 3 decks:

• top;
• battery;
• armored or carapace.

There is a prepared platform that occupies the entire horizontal perimeter of the last deck. There are 2 more platforms in the hold: on the bow and stern. The hold is divided into separate sections by 13 bulkheads located in the transverse plane.

Outside, the body was sheathed with sheet steel 10-13 mm thick.

Keels from the time of construction were made from:

• vertical (1m in height) 11 mm thick;
• horizontal internal - 10-13;
• horizontal outer - 14-16.

Below the waterline, the perimeter was sheathed with teak boards 102 mm thick, the outer layer was made of copper millimeter sheets. The stems are bronze, cast. The second bottom was equipped not along the entire length of the hull, but between 22-98 frames.

The decks and platforms were covered with steel sheets, teak boards, the surface thickness varied between 5-19 mm. The interior floor was covered with linoleum.

Teak boards were used in various thicknesses, depending on the deck and purpose:

• upper deck - 76 mm;
• deck with fuel tanks - 64;
• in the area of ​​spiers - 144.

Around bitten, bollards and guns, the flooring was created from 89 mm oak planks. This material resisted loads better, was distinguished by its strength and unpretentiousness in sea conditions.

To save weight and material, protective sheets were placed on the ship of uneven thickness. The most vulnerable areas with equipment and crew were equipped with thick armor, others were much lighter.

Steel plates acted as armor protection:

1. On the steel flooring of the armored deck, 38 mm sheets were laid in a horizontal plane, on bevels of 51 and 63.5 mm on bevels adjacent to the sides;
2. Glacis machine hatches had a thickness of 25.4 mm;
3. Drives of control systems, pipe casings and elevator shafts were protected by 38 mm sheets;
4. Behind the aft wheelhouse, the protective traverse was made of 16 mm sheet steel laid across the deck.

The pipe from the conning tower to the central post was best protected - 89 mm sheets. Even thicker plates were placed on the barbette of the conning tower and on the beam in front of the entrance to the cabin - 152 mm.

Dimensions and weight

The length of the ship from "nose to tail" is 126.8 meters, width - 16.8 m. The average draft is 6.4 m.

Armament

From the moment of launching, various gun systems were installed on the Aurora. Heavy and medium ship guns, anti-aircraft systems, torpedoes and barrage mines. However, during the operation the ship was re-equipped several times.

The cruiser "Aurora" got into operation with the following set of weapons:

• 152 mm guns - 8 pcs.;
• 75 mm Kane systems - 24 pcs.;
• 37 mm Hotchkiss guns - 8 pcs.;
• 63.5 mm Baranovsky guns, landing - 2 pcs.;
• 3 torpedo tubes of 381 mm caliber were located above the water in the stem (1 pc.) And under water from each side.

The most numerous guns - 75 mm, were located on the bridges and the top of the ship.

Ammunition for the guns was placed in the cellars: 1414 shots were provided for the heaviest, 6240 for 75 mm, 3600 and 1440 for 37 mm guns and landing guns, respectively. Torpedo tubes were equipped with 8 Whitehead mines (1898), 35 spherical mines were stored in the hold. To install the latter, special rafts or boats / cruiser steam boats were used.

For 152 mm shells, a separate loading system was used. In 4 cellars there were shells weighing 41.4 kg and a powder charge in the form of shells. Functionally, they were divided into armor-piercing, high-explosive and with a charge of shrapnel for effective destruction of manpower. Armor-piercing ammunition weighing 4.9 kg was supplied to 75 mm guns, they were located in 8 cellars.

In order to supply ammunition to the upper / battery decks, gazebos were used, which moved by winches with electric drives along the elevators. For delivery, already on the guns, monorail guides were used.

Artillery fire was controlled using devices from the Petersburg Electromechanical Plant.

The cruiser was rearmed 5 times:

1. Summer 1903;
2. Spring 1907;
3. Winter 1916;
4. 1923;
5. 1941.

From the moment the troops entered the ship, there were 152-mm guns on the ship, in 1907 their number increased to 10, and in 1916 - 14. During the rearmament of 1923, all large-caliber guns were replaced by 130 mm B-7 guns, 10 of them were mounted.

The caliber 75 mm in 1907 began to be dismantled, first removing 4 systems, and from 1916 they were completely abandoned. A similar fate befell 37 mm - in 1907 everything was removed at once. In parallel, 2 landing guns were dismantled. By the way, all torpedo tubes were also removed from the ship after the first rearmament.

Since 1916, anti-aircraft systems have been mounted on the Aurora. At first it was four 75 mm Kane anti-aircraft guns and one 40 mm Vickers. In 1923, they were replaced by 2 Lender guns of 76 mm caliber, which remained on the ship until the very end of its operation. In 1941, 2 more 76 mm guns and 3 45 mm anti-aircraft guns were added to them.

Participation in hostilities

In August 1902, the Aurora entered factory tests, during which the propeller was straightened and shields were mounted on torpedo tubes. In early October, the ship was handed over for official trials, during which a number of malfunctions and breakdowns were revealed. The plant corrected the shortcomings in the allotted 2 weeks.

After repeated tests, the commission did not accept the car due to the fact that it could not pass at full speed continuously for 6 hours. After repeated verification, this indicator was achieved, but only under ideal operating conditions, far from practical application. As a result, the tests were rescheduled for the summer of 1903.

The situation on the world stage required the speedy commissioning of new ships, so it was necessary to evaluate the quality of the machine, work out all the shortcomings and enter service as soon as possible. By the end of July 1903, the ship was supposed to be completely ready for the transition to the Far East.

Tests in mid-June showed that the cruiser is able to withstand the established mode of operation. However, it was not possible to achieve the speed specified in the contract with the factories, however, as well as on all other ships of the class. Despite this shortcoming, the Aurora entered service on June 16, 1903.

The first purpose of the cruiser was to replenish the composition of the detachment of Rear Admiral Virenius, who was in the Mediterranean Sea and was supposed to head to Port Arthur. After arriving at the assembly site, the cruiser underwent repairs by the crew and craftsmen from the shore, for which two weeks were allocated. The long journey was interrupted by a message about the outbreak of war with Japan, the entire detachment was ordered to return to the port of St. Petersburg. On the way, the ships of the group did not meet the enemy.

The second episode of military service began almost immediately after returning. It is known that the cruiser was included in the Second Pacific Squadron. Preliminary repairs were carried out to eliminate the identified breakdowns and shortcomings. The armament underwent serious modernization, in particular, the armor protection of the guns was strengthened, lighting devices and sights were installed. Then the cruiser took part in the exercises held in Kronstadt.

The first combat experience was the transition to Tangier, from the very beginning of which Japanese attacks were expected. By mistake, the ships of the squadron mistook each other for enemy ships at night. During the skirmish, the Aurora received 5 hits. Two were injured, the priest's arm was torn off, he later died in the hospital. This incident later negatively affected relations with Britain.

After long passages, the cruiser as part of the squadron arrived in the Tsushima Strait on May 14, and an order was received to be in full combat readiness by morning. The main task of the ships was to protect transport ships. During a heavy 19-hour battle, the Aurora received multiple hull damage. 1 officer and 9 sailors were killed, later 5 more lower ranks died from wounds, 74 sailors and 8 officers were wounded.

With the onset of night, the ships tried to get out of the encirclement, and on May 15 they managed to overcome the area of ​​mine attacks. The transition was completed on May 20 in Manila, and the next day a commission was assembled to determine the time needed for repairs.

According to the results of the assessment, it turned out that the repair would take 30 days. This is how the parking in Manila began, during which disarmament was carried out (as well as a subscription was given about the non-participation of the crew in hostilities), and after the end of the war, the crew with the ship stayed for a long time in the American port.

The repair was completed in August 1905, after which the ship was able to leave the parking lot by the beginning of October. On the way, because of the information about the revolution in Russia, it was necessary to have a conversation with the crew in order to calm the tension that had arisen. It was spurred on by the fact that 300 team members were waiting for demobilization. The ship arrived in Libau only on February 19, 1906.

Interwar service

After the sailors were transferred to the reserve, the repair of the cruiser began, the modernization of vulnerable units. The total repair time was almost a year, during which the gun systems and interiors were redesigned to improve ergonomics for the crew.

World War I

Service in the First World War for the ship began on July 17, 1914, when a command was given to put the ships of the Baltic Fleet on alert. From that moment until participation in hostilities, another modernization was carried out.

The ship was in the Gulf of Riga in mid-July, when the ground forces received serious artillery support. Several times the ship was attacked by anti-ship aircraft, but no damage was received.

On September 6, the Aurora returned to Kronstadt, where repair work began, which dragged on until 1917.

February Revolution

Parking for overhaul coincided with the revolutionary events. The main concern during this period was the possibility of the crew succumbing to agitation. The situation was aggravated up to the installation of machine guns on board, which would have helped repulse a probable attack from the shore. As a result, the officers refused to use them.

On February 27, in order to prevent a riot, fire was opened at the command of the ship, two were wounded, one was killed. On February 28, the captain refused to prevent the sailors from going ashore, but 2 officers responsible for firing the day before were killed.

October Revolution and Civil War

After the repair, the ship remained on the Neva, as it could play a decisive role in the upcoming uprising. The first task from the Bolsheviks was the setting of the divorced Nikolaevsky bridge, for which it turned out to be enough to bring the cruiser to the middle of the river.

A single shot was fired - a blank, however, some historians believe that it was fired from the Peter and Paul Fortress. It is believed that from its position the ship could not fire on the Winter Palace.

The ship later returned to the Franco-Russian Shipyard to complete repairs.

Training ship of the Baltic Fleet

In 1919, the ship stood in the dock, and in 1922 it was transferred to the Kronstadt port for long-term storage. In the same year, the commission came to the conclusion that a slight refinement and repair would allow the Aurora to be used as a training ship. In July 1923, the first campaigns of the training team began.

The Great Patriotic War

With the beginning of World War II, the cruiser was included in the air defense system, the crew at that time consisted of 260 people. With the approach of the troops of the fascist invaders, guns were dismantled from the ship, and thus a defensive line was created: battery "A", consisting of nine 130 mm guns of the ship and crews from among the sailors.

The fighters held out for 8 days from the moment of the first shots that thundered on September 3, out of 165 people only 26 returned.

The ship itself, meanwhile, was regularly bombed by aircraft, then by artillery from the shore, from September 16 the attacks were daily. As a result, the cruiser sat on the ground due to holes on September 30th.

The last dismantled gun was installed on the Baltiets armored train.

Where is the cruiser now

In the modern history of the ship, the last event was the repair of 2014. On September 21, the Aurora cruiser in St. Petersburg was towed to the repair dock of the Kronstadt plant. The first stage of the repair was completed on November 26, after which it was towed to the outfitting wall to continue work.

The ship returned to its post on November 26, 2016, where the Aurora cruiser is now located. The legendary car appears in the form of a museum and a monument to the bloody events of human history in general and Russian history in particular.

The cruiser "Aurora" 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" was awarded the Order of 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 of local police and port officials on board. 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. They say that despite the well-known proverb about a woman on a ship, the sailors not only did not drive away the beauty who boarded the ship, 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 not sent to the Aurora by chance, it was purely psychologically calculated that not a single sailor would refuse such a beautiful woman. 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 strives 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. In parallel, 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. ”

Aurora fired! Aurora gasped!
The eagle fell under the boots...
For the cause of Lenin! For the will of Trotsky!
We will win all over the world...
folk revolutionary song

D to understand what the cruiser Aurora is dreaming of"
I propose to recall her his long and glorious military and life path ...

History of the Aurora
The armored cruiser "Aurora" was laid down on May 23, 1897 in St. Petersburg (in the New Admiralty). The ship is of the same type with the previously laid down "Pallada" and "Diana".

In the Russian Navy, there was (and still is) a tradition of succession in the names of ships, and the new cruisers inherited the names of sailing frigates. The construction of the ship took more than six 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.

The main purpose is to conduct reconnaissance, destroy enemy merchant ships, cover ships of the line from attacks by enemy destroyers, patrol service. The ship could not conduct artillery duels with modern battleships of that time. It did not have armor and sufficient firepower. But having a solid (about seven thousand tons) displacement and, as a result, good seaworthiness and autonomy. With a full supply of coal (1430 tons), the Aurora could, without additional bunkering, go from Port Arthur to Vladivostok and return back.

On September 25, 1903 (only a week after the staffing ended on September 18), the 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. The war began and 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.

Admiral Rozhdestvensky was an original and (perhaps for the purpose of conspiracy) gave warships nicknames, with salty naval humor. The cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov" was called the "Idiot", the battleship "Sisoy the Great" - "Invalid shelter", the yacht "Svetlana" was called "Maid", and the "Aurora" was awarded the "honorary" title "Hooker under the fence"))))

On October 2, 1904, as part of the squadron, changing the commander (it was the captain of the 1st rank E. R. Egoriev ("Aurora" went to Tsushima.

in the Battle of Tsushima, Aurora fired 303 152-mm, 1282 75-mm and 320 37-mm shells at the enemy.

During the battle, the cruiser received 18 hits from shells of various calibers, had serious crew losses - up to a hundred people were killed and wounded.

The commander died - his photograph is now exhibited in the museum of the cruiser, framed by a steel sheet pierced by a fragment of a Japanese shell and charred deck planks.

But with all this, the ship managed to escape from the encirclement and go to Manila, where it stood disarmed until the end of the war.

In 1909-1910, the Aurora, together with the Diana and the Bogatyr, was part of the foreign navigation detachment, specially designed for the practice of midshipmen of the Naval Corps and the Naval Engineering School, as well as students of the Training Team of combatant non-commissioned officers.
In November 1911, the Aurors took part in the celebrations in Bangkok in honor of the coronation of the Siamese king.

In 1910, the cruiser accompanied the imperial yacht to Riga.

The cruiser underwent its first modernization after the Russo-Japanese War, the second, after which it took on its current appearance, in 1915. The artillery armament of the ship was strengthened - the number of 152-mm main-caliber guns was first brought to ten, and then to fourteen. Numerous 75-mm artillery was dismantled - the size and survivability of destroyers increased, and three-inch shells no longer posed a serious danger to them.

The cruiser was able to take on board up to 150 mines - mine weapons were widely used in the Baltic and proved their effectiveness. And in the winter of 1915-1916, a novelty was installed on the Aurora - anti-aircraft guns. But the glorious cruiser might not have survived until the second modernization ...

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 cruisers went on patrol in pairs, and at the end of the patrol period, one pair replaced the other.

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 correctly assessed and classified the targets and attacked. A torpedo hit caused the detonation of ammunition magazines on the battleship Pallada, and the cruiser sank along with the entire crew. And the veteran of the Russian-Japanese war, the cruiser "Aurora" managed to hide in the skerries under the guise.

It is not worth talking seriously about the fateful role of the Aurora in the events of October 1917. The cruiser could not shoot the Winter Palace with guns. It was under repair, and all the ammunition from it was unloaded. But it is possible that the Bolsheviks found a couple of shells for a salvo and effect.

The Aurora did not take part in the civil war and in battles with the English fleet. There was an acute shortage of fuel and other supplies.

In 1918, the Aurora was in deep reserve, without guns, which were used to equip home-made light gunboats.

At the end of 1922, the Aurora, by the way, the only ship of the old imperial Russian fleet that retained its name given to it at birth, was decided to be restored as a training ship. The cruiser was repaired, ten 130-mm guns were installed on it instead of the previous 6-inch guns, two anti-aircraft guns and four machine guns, and on July 18, 1923, the ship entered sea trials.

Then for ten years - from 1923 to 1933 - the cruiser was engaged in a business already familiar to him: cadets of naval schools were practicing on board.
The ship made several foreign voyages, participated in the maneuvers of the newly resurgent Baltic Fleet. But the years took their toll, and due to the poor condition of the boilers and mechanisms, the Aurora, after another repair in 1933-1935, became a non-self-propelled training base. In winter, it was used as a floating base for submarines.

During the Great Patriotic War, the old cruiser stood in the harbor of Oranienbaum.

The guns were once again removed from the ship, and nine of its "hundred and thirty" mounted on the coastal battery defended the approaches to the city.

The Germans did not pay much attention to the decrepit veteran, trying first to disable the best Soviet ships (such as the Kirov cruiser), but the ship still received its portion of enemy shells. On September 30, 1941, the half-sunken cruiser, damaged as a result of artillery shelling, sat down on the ground.

After the blockade of Leningrad was lifted in July 1944, the cruiser was brought out of a state of clinical death - they were lifted from the ground and (for the umpteenth time!) Put in for repairs. Boilers and onboard machines, propellers, side shaft brackets and the shafts themselves, as well as part of the auxiliary mechanisms, were removed from the Aurora. They installed the weapons that were on the ship in 1915 - fourteen 152-mm Kane guns and four 45-mm salute guns.

In 1946, during the repair, "Aurora" played the steward of the cruiser "Varyag" in the film of the same name. Then the Aurora, as a true actress, even had to make up for her character - the shields were removed from the guns (there were none on the Varyag), and a fourth fake pipe was installed to make the image of the most heroic cruiser of the Russian-Japanese war true.

Now the cruiser was to become a monument ship and at the same time the training base of the Nakhimov School. In 1948, the repair was completed, and the restored Aurora stood where it stands to this day - to Petrogradskaya Embankment opposite the building of the Nakhimov School. And in 1956, the Ship Museum was opened aboard the Aurora as a branch of the Central Naval Museum.

In the Soviet years, of course, the main (and, perhaps, the only) attention was paid to the revolutionary past of the cruiser. Images of the Aurora were present wherever possible, and the silhouette of the three-pipe ship became a symbol of our city.

In 1967, the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution was widely celebrated in the Soviet Union. For the anniversary, the film "Volley of the Aurora" was filmed, where the cruiser played himself. All filming was done on location. The Aurora was towed to a historical place to the Nikolaevsky Bridge. The spectacle was impressive, and thousands of Leningraders and guests of the city watched the gray the beauty slowly and majestically floats along the Neva.

Towing to a parking lot after filming in 1967.

A major restoration of the Aurora took place in 1984. Powerful tugboats removed the cruiser from the eternal parking lot and dragged it to the Northern shipyard.

At the docks, the cruiser of the revolution was simply cut into pieces. The lower part of the vessel, including the entire underwater part, was completely replaced with a new one.

Severe alteration was subjected to what was above the water. By the anniversary date, the Aurora returned to its usual place, and then the question arose of what to do with the skeleton left at the shipyard. The scrapping of the cruiser of the revolution in Soviet times would have been considered ideological sabotage. So they decided to hide the real Aurora from the eyes of the people.

During the restoration, the Aurora was slowly taken away for souvenirs, both military and civilian. From the surface parts, they tore off the sheathing of sheet copper, which covered the entire ship. The chief mechanic of the Baltika fishing state farm, Vladimir Yurchenko, as a deeply religious economic man, tore off all the tiles from the shower room of the heroic ship and laid them in the dacha. And that's right, the good does not disappear. Many took the doors along with the jambs and took out the portholes.

According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the workers who plundered the restored cruiser stumbled upon a completely serviceable fire extinguishing system. It worked when, with the help of a welding machine, they began to open the bulkheads. At the same time, half of the ship was flooded with foam.

They wanted to turn the cut off hull into a breakwater, but it did not work out. Corpse The severed part sank in the wrong place. Now you can easily find the remains of the cruiser of the revolution.

Against the background of the wreckage, casual tourists willingly take pictures, in the summer local boys recklessly climb the skeleton. At low tide, the hull, stretching 120 meters in length, is visible in its entirety.

And the reborn cruiser Frankinstein "Aurora" was solemnly returned to eternal parking.

The modern cruiser is a partial remake. Of the most noticeable differences from the original is the use of welds on the new body instead of rivet technology.

On the ship in 1992, the Andreevsky flag was again raised, the cruiser was listed as part of the Russian Navy as No. 1. Until recently, officers and sailors served on the ship. All auxiliary mechanisms and life support systems are maintained by the cruiser team in working order. In working well-groomed condition and ship guns.

On the night of June 6, 2009, a banquet and a solemn presentation of the Russian Pioneer magazine were held on the ship, which were also attended by distinguished guests. The prosecutor's office became interested in the case, and the Minister of Defense and the Navy turned out to be the last one, as overwatch)))

December 1, 2010 "Aurora" lost the status of ship number 1 of the Russian Navy. The ship became a branch of the Central Museum of the Navy.

On August 1, the Aurora was finally transferred to the jurisdiction of the Central Naval Museum. The military unit that served on the ship was disbanded. The crew of the cruiser "Aurora" was reorganized into a staff of three military personnel and 28 civilian personnel; the status of the ship remained the same.

In October 2011, a flag with a skull and crossbones was hung on the mast of the cruiser Aurora. Two young people and a girl sat on the mast under the Jolly Roger for about five hours, alarming the police, rescuers, the city commandant's office and military sailors.

The troublemakers called themselves representatives of the organizations "People's Share" and "Food Instead of Bombs." They dedicated the action "Memorable October or Aurora Sunday" to the fight against the crisis, poverty, oligarchs, "endemic pedophilia" and "religious extremism."

A conditional shot from the head gun of the Aurora cruiser at the house of People's Artist Mikhail Boyarsky was reported to herald the beginning of the Russian October Political Postmodernization (ROPP).

The slogans were beautiful and revolutionary.
Russia from tyrants - will! To the people - from oil, gas - a share! Food is a right, not a privilege! Our cause is just - we are not piz..m!

Activists managed to be removed from the masts without loss (for activists). Their further fate is humane and disappointing (it was up to the pussies).

Now officially the crew is recruited from former military sailors. But besides them, there are also sailors on the Aurora. They are seconded to the ship and continue to perform the functions of the crew, as before. It turns out that the status of the cruiser was not finally sorted out.

Now "Aurora" has again left its place at the Nakhimov School.

At the shipyard in Kronstadt, the first stage of repair will take place, after which the cruiser will be moved to another point. It is assumed that by the end of the year the legendary ship will be returned to its permanent mooring.

Historical photos and info (C) different places on the Internet.