Authentic biography of "Aurora" with little-known details

For several generations of Soviet (and not only Soviet) people, the name of this cruiser has become a kind of fetish. The legendary ship, which heralded with its volley the onset of a new era in the history of mankind, the symbol of the Great October Socialist Revolution - this is the most replicated cliché. And what is the actual history of the cruiser "Aurora"?

A ship born at the turn of the century

At the end of the 19th century, the Russian navy grew and was replenished with new ships. According to the classification of that time, there was such a subclass of cruisers - armored, that is, having an armored deck to protect vital parts of the ship from enemy artillery fire. The armored cruisers did not carry side armor and were not intended for a duel with battleships. It was to this type of warships that the cruiser Aurora, laid down on May 23, 1897 in St. Petersburg (in the New Admiralty), of the same type with the previously laid down Pallada and Diana, belonged.

Armored cruiser "Aurora", 1903

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.

Its name - "Aurora" (morning dawn) - the cruiser inherited from the forty-four-gun Russian frigate, which in 1854 distinguished itself in battles during the siege of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The construction of the Aurora was carried out under the guidance of a talented Russian engineer K. M. Tokarevsky at the Novoadmiralteysky and Franco-Russian plants.

CRUISER AURORA. TACTICAL AND TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

• Class - Cruiser 1st rank.
• Type - KR I "Pallada".
• Shipyard - "New Admiralty". St. Petersburg.
• Laid down - May 23 (June 4 according to the old style), 1897
• Launched - 11 (24 according to the old style) May 1900
• Entered service - 16 (29 according to the old style) July 1903 (Baltic Fleet).
• Full displacement - 6,731 tons.
• Length - 126.7 m.
• Width - 16.8 m.
• Draft - 6.2 m.
• The power of the mechanisms is 11,971 hp.
• Speed ​​- 20.0 knots.
• Cruising range - 4,000 miles (7,200 km).
• Fuel supply - 964 tons of coal.
• Artillery weapons (as of 1917): 152 calibers (Kane system) - 14; 76.2 caliber (Lender anti-aircraft guns) - 6.
• Torpedo tubes - 3 (1 surface; 2 underwater).
• The mass of metal fired by guns from one side: in a side salvo - 267 kg; in one minute - 652 kg.
• Crew - 570 people (including officers - 20 people).
• The armor was supplied by Izhorsky, and the artillery by the Obukhov factories.

This ship was by no means unique in its combat qualities. Neither a particularly frisky speed (only 19 knots - squadron battleships of that time developed a speed of 18 knots), nor weapons (8 six-inch main caliber guns - far from amazing firepower) the cruiser could boast.

Ships of another armored cruiser type (Bogatyr), which was then adopted by the Russian fleet, were much faster and one and a half times stronger.

And the attitude of officers and crews towards these "goddesses of domestic production" was not too warm - the cruisers of the "Diana" type had a lot of shortcomings and constantly arising technical problems.

Nevertheless, its intended purpose is 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, 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.

All three cruisers were destined for the Pacific Ocean, where a military conflict with Japan was brewing, and the first two of them were already in the Far East by the time the Aurora entered service with the existing ships. The third sister also hurried to her relatives, and on September 25, 1903 (just 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, which consisted of the squadron battleship Oslyabya, the cruiser Dmitry Donskoy, 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 considered too risky to proceed 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.

"Favorite" of Admiral Rozhdestvensky

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.

1. Adjutant General E.I. Alekseev, Viceroy of the Far East.

2. Commander of the Manchurian Army, acting against the Japanese, Adjutant General, Infantry General A.N. Kuropatkin.

3. Kont-Admiral A.A. Virenius, commander of a squadron that sailed into the waters of the Eastern Ocean.

4. Rear Admiral M.P. Molas, appointed at the disposal of the governor.

5. Lieutenant General N.P. Linevich.

6. The commander of the battleship "Tsesarevich" I.K. Grigorovich.

Poster from the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905.

Zinovy ​​Petrovich Rozhdestvensky

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 - Captain 1st Rank Evgeny Romanovich Egoriev became him.

Admiral Rozhdestvensky was, let's say, an original personality. And 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 included two ships with female names - the former yacht "Svetlana" and "Aurora". The commander nicknamed the first cruiser "The Maid", and the "Aurora" was even awarded the obscene title "Fence Prostitute". If only Rozhdestvensky knew what ship he names so disrespectfully!

"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. The Aurora itself received about a dozen hits, had a number of injuries and serious losses in people - up to a hundred people were killed and wounded.

damage to the Aurora after the Tsushima battle

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.

Cruiser damage
According to the senior mine officer, Lieutenant G.K. Stark, during the battle, the Aurora received 18 hits by medium and small caliber shells. The main damage to the cruiser:

1. On the starboard side, the hawse was disabled by shrapnel; broken anchor chain; the anchor stopped releasing.

2. From the fairlead to the upper deck, a meter from the waterline, there were two holes with an area of ​​0.18 m² and 10-15 small holes; two frames are deformed.

3. In the room of the bow mine apparatus, the fastening of the right anchor was damaged, several rivets were knocked out.

4. A shell that exploded in the area of ​​the 71st starboard frame at the junction of the battery deck caused a large hole and gaps over 3.7 m; two frames are bent.

5. In the area of ​​the 40th frame there is a crack and 5 holes.

6. There are more than ten small holes in the second coal pit.

7. Three holes formed on the left side in the area of ​​​​the 65th frame; broken ladder to the navigation bridge.

8. On the spardeck in the region of the 47th frame there is a hole with an area of ​​0.45 m².

9. The chimneys received multiple damages, the largest of which was a 3.7 m hole in the front pipe; the middle pipe, due to a hole of approximately the same area, leaned forward somewhat.

10. All boats, boats and barges of the cruiser are riddled with fragments, as are the ventilation bells.

11. The foremast of the Aurora received three hits: the fore-topmast and fore-mars-yards were demolished first, a third of the topmast was shot down with the second, the third hit the mast at the top, making a crack in it.

12. The cruiser's artillery suffered significant damage: all but one of the 75-millimeter guns were damaged, and five of them were completely out of action. The aft 152 mm starboard gun became unusable for firing, the right 37 mm gun of the aft bridge was knocked overboard with the entire installation.

13. Mars rangefinding station destroyed; a searchlight was shot down from the right wing of the aft bridge. Barr and Stroud's only rangefinder is broken.

Based on the results of the inspection of the cruiser in Manila, the American commission determined that the Aurora needed 30 days of repairs to continue sailing safely.

Cruiser 1st rank "Aurora" on the roads of Manila after the battle of Tsushima, June 1905

At night, instead of covering the wounded Russian ships from the frenzied mine attacks of the Japanese, the cruisers Oleg, Aurora and Zhemchug broke away from their main forces and headed for the Philippines, where they were interned in Manila. However, there is no reason to accuse the cruiser's crew of cowardice - the responsibility for the flight from the battlefield lay with the bewildered Admiral Enquist. Two of these three ships subsequently sank: Zhemchug was sunk in 1914 by the German corsair Emden in Penang, and Oleg was sunk by English torpedo boats in the Gulf of Finland in 1919.

The Aurora returned to the Baltic at the beginning of 1906, along with several other ships that had survived the Japanese defeat. 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.

The Aurora team did not participate in saving the inhabitants of Messina from the consequences of the 1908 earthquake, but Russian sailors from the Aurora received a medal for this feat from grateful residents of the city when the cruiser visited this Sicilian port in February 1911. And in November 1911, the Aurors took part in the celebrations in Bangkok in honor of the coronation of the Siamese king.

World War I in the Baltic

The cruiser underwent its first modernization after the Russo-Japanese War, the second, after which it received the 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 ...

Armored cruiser "Aurora" in 1916

the first world war"Aurora" met 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 served both the Russians and the British in good stead during the war.

But a new danger awaited Russian ships - since October, German submarines began to operate in the Baltic Sea. Anti-submarine defense in the fleets of the whole world was then in its infancy - no one knew how and with what it was possible to hit an invisible enemy hiding under water, and how to avoid his sudden attacks. There were no diving shells, let alone depth charges and sonars. Surface ships could only rely on the good old ram - after all, they should not take seriously the developed anecdotal instructions, in which it was prescribed to cover the sighted periscopes with bags and fold them with sledgehammers.

On October 11, 1914, at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, the German submarine "U-26" under the command of Lieutenant Commander von Berkheim discovered two Russian cruisers: the Pallada, which was ending its patrol service, and the Aurora, which had come up to replace it. The commander of the German submarine, with German pedantry and scrupulousness, assessed and classified the targets - in all respects, the new armored cruiser was much more tempting prey than the veteran of the Russian-Japanese war.

A torpedo hit caused a detonation of 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 the skerries. And again, do not blame Russian sailors for cowardice - as already mentioned, they still did not know how to fight submarines, and the Russian command already knew about the tragedy that happened ten days earlier in the North Sea, where a German boat sank three English armored cruisers at once. The Aurora escaped death for the second time - fate clearly kept the cruiser.
In the fire of revolutions and wars

It is not worth dwelling on the role of the 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 clean water bluff. The cruiser was under repair, and therefore all the ammunition was unloaded from it in full accordance with the instructions in force. And the stamp "Aurora salvo" is purely grammatically incorrect, since a "volley" is simultaneously fired shots from at least two barrels.

IN civil war and the Aurora did not take part in battles with the English fleet. An acute shortage of fuel and other types of supplies led to the fact that the Baltic Fleet was reduced to the size of a bunker - an "active detachment" - consisting of only a few combat units. The Aurora was put into reserve, and in the fall of 1918, part of the guns were removed from the cruiser for installation on makeshift gunboats of river and lake flotillas.

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 time 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 cruiser "Kirov"), however, 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.

Cruiser "Aurora" in Oranienbaum, 1942

But the ship again - for the third time in its more than forty years of history - survived. 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.

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.

The Aurora ceased to be a training ship for pupils of the Leningrad Nakhimov School in 1961, but it retains the status of a museum ship to this day. Long voyages and naval battles are a thing of the past - the time has come for a well-deserved and honorable pension. Such a fate rarely falls to a ship - after all, ships usually either die at sea, or end up at the wall of the plant, where they are cut for scrap ...

Generalist Veteran

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 the same symbol of the city on the Neva as the Peter and Paul Fortress or Bronze Horseman. The role of the cruiser in the October Revolution was extolled in every possible way, and there was even a joke-joke: "Which ship in history had the most powerful weapons?" - "Cruiser" Aurora "! One shot - and the whole power collapsed!".

In 1967, the 50th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution was widely celebrated in the Soviet Union. In Leningrad, bonfires were burning near Smolny, near which, leaning on rifles, stood people in soldier's overcoats and in jackets of revolutionary sailors of the seventeenth year with an indispensable attribute - with machine-gun belts crossed on their chests and on their backs.

The cruiser "Aurora" follows the location of the film "Aurora Volley", 1967

It is clear that the well-deserved ship simply could not be ignored. For the anniversary, the film "Volley of the Aurora" was made, where the cruiser played the main role - itself. For greater authenticity of the events depicted, all filming was done on location. The Aurora was towed to a historical place to the Nikolaevsky bridge, where the episode of the capture of the aforementioned bridge by the Aurors was filmed. The spectacle was impressive, and thousands of Leningraders and guests of the city watched the gray three-pipe beauty slowly and majestically float along the Neva.

However, the "Aurora" itself was not the first time to act as a movie star. Back in 1946, during the repair, "Aurora" played the role 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.

The last repair of the Aurora took place in the mid-80s of the last century, and rumors about the “fake Aurora” are connected with this. The fact is that the bottom of the cruiser was completely replaced, and the old one was dragged into the Gulf of Finland and abandoned there. amputated remains and gave rise to rumors.

The Andreevsky flag was again raised on the ship in 1992, the cruiser is listed in the Russian Navy, and now officers and sailors are serving on the ship (even if there are ten times less of them than they once were). Of course, the Aurora itself will no longer be able to move away from the place of eternal parking, but all auxiliary mechanisms and life support systems are maintained by the cruiser's team in working order. In working well-groomed condition and ship guns.

Today, the main occupation of the cruiser "Aurora", whose age has already exceeded one hundred years, is to serve as a museum. And this museum is very visited - there are up to half a million guests a year on board the ship. And honestly, this museum is worth a visit - and not only for those who are nostalgic for the irretrievably bygone times.

Museum on the Aurora

It's great that Aurora has survived to this day. All over the world, such monument ships can be counted on the fingers:

" Victoria "

"Cutty Sark"

"Queen Mary"

"Mikasa"

"Victoria" and "Cutty Sark" in England, "Queen Mary" in the USA, "Mikasa" in Japan. It remains only to wish the veteran good health for the next hundred years; after all, a blank shot in October 1917 is just one of many pages in the long biography of the glorious cruiser. And from it, as from a song, you can’t throw out the words ...

Vladimir Kontrovsky

The cruiser Aurora is one of the most recognizable symbols of the October Revolution. However, the history of the ship includes many more events and military campaigns, without which the idea of ​​the cruiser's historical path would be incomplete.

cruiser project

The construction of the Aurora cruiser (a Diana-class ship) began in 1896. According to the previous shipbuilding program, this project was not in the plans of the fleet at all. However, at the end of the 19th century, the foreign policy situation deteriorated noticeably. An arms race with Germany began. Against this background, the state needed such new courts as the Aurora.

The ship became the third among the cruisers of its class (the first two were "Diana" and "Pallada"). The ship was laid down in the New Admiralty. Its project belongs to the authorship of the naval design engineer Xavier Ratnik. The draft version was approved by the Marine Technical Committee, after which preparations for construction began.

In the spring of 1897, Emperor Nicholas II was offered 12 ideas for the name of the future ship. The king chose "Aurora" - a name adopted from the ancient Roman goddess of the dawn. The laying ceremony took place on June 4. It was attended by the Admiral General of the Fleet. The remaining two cruisers were completed before the Aurora appeared. The ship was made belatedly due to the fact that the executor of the order could not agree on the delivery of a steam engine for a long time. The company at first did not want to transfer valuable drawings to the Baltic Shipyard. Finally, the conflict was settled, and the contract was signed (July 20).

Service start

May 24, the ship "Aurora" was launched. The ceremony took place in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna and mother Maria Feodorovna. It is symbolic that during the descent on board there was a sailor who had previously served on the frigate "Aurora" of the same name, which participated in the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky during Crimean War. Installation of machines and auxiliary mechanisms began the next day.

The main technical ones are as follows: length - 126 meters, width - 16 meters, draft - 6 meters. "Aurora" has a displacement of 6731 tons. The designers chose Belleville as the engine. With a power of about 12 thousand horsepower, the ship could reach speeds of up to 35 kilometers per hour (19 knots). The ship's crew consisted of 550 sailors and 20 officers.

For several years, the ship was tested, after which, in 1903, it became part of a detachment under the command of Rear Admiral Andrey Virenius. The further fate of the ship was connected with the Second Pacific Squadron, created due to the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. She went to Port Arthur in order to unblock the besieged port. The ships had a long way to go, which usually stretched for at least a year.

Hull Incident

While sailing in the Baltic Sea on October 22, 1904, a serious incident occurred. The ships of the squadron fired on an unidentified suspicious vessel in the fog. It turned out that they were English fishermen. Two of them died. The Aurora also came under friendly fire due to poor visibility. The ship was hit by 5 shells. Because of the wound he received, the hieromonk who was on the cruiser soon died. The event became known as the Hull Incident. Due to a mistake by the fleet, relations between Russia and Great Britain were seriously damaged. In order to find out all the circumstances of the tragedy, the parties agreed to an arbitration investigation. It was the first such case in the world practice.

Despite what happened, the squadron continued its journey. What was the situation on the cruiser "Aurora"? The ship was quickly patched up, and its damage did not cause her to return to her homeland. On the island of Madagascar, during the stay, the sailors learned that Port Arthur had fallen, and the First Pacific Squadron had died.

Tsushima battle

On May 14 or 27, 1905, according to the new style, the Aurora ship took part in the famous Tsushima battle. For the Russian fleet, this was a decisive battle and the last hope for saving the entire military campaign. The second Pacific squadron suffered a crushing defeat. The Aurora was lucky - the ship was damaged, but did not capitulate and was not sunk, unlike most other domestic ships.

After the battle, the cruiser found 18 hits. The anchor chain was broken, and the hawse was disabled. The rest of the damage was a hole. On May 21, the ship, accompanied by Americans, moored in the port of Manila, Philippines. The ship was interned. The team gave a subscription about non-participation in further hostilities with the Japanese. The Aurora remained parked in Manila until the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the war. The cruiser returned home on February 19, 1906. The anchor in Libau was thrown 458 days after the ship went on an expedition as part of the Second Pacific Squadron.

World War I

Immediately after the outbreak of the First World War, the ship-cruiser Aurora arrived at the port of Reval in anticipation of new orders. On August 26, 1914, the Magdeburg ran aground in the waters of the Gulf of Finland. "Aurora" went to intercept the German ship. Russian sailors managed to capture the ship. It was later broken up for scrap.

This was followed by a long stay in the port of Helsingfors. In 1916, the Aurora entered the Gulf of Riga and assisted the ground forces with heavy artillery fire. In autumn the ship went to Kronstadt for repairs.

February Revolution

During the stay in Kronstadt, Captain Mikhail Nikolsky tried to resist the political revolutionary agitation that flourished at the local factory where the ship was being repaired. The factories went on strike. The requirements of the workers were different. Someone wanted to reduce the working day, others generally opposed the authorities. In such a situation, the captain rightly feared for the morale of his sailors.

On February 27, the armament of the guard guarding the Aurora cruiser was strengthened. The history of the ship already included dangerous naval battles, but if a riot broke out on the ship, then the officers would simply have nothing to rely on. In addition, agitators spread rumors that the Aurora would be made into a floating prison.

the day before February Revolution riots broke out on the ship. The sailors stopped obeying Nikolsky's orders, after which the officers opened fire on them. Three people were wounded, one later died from complications. Meanwhile, mass popular demonstrations were already taking place in Petrograd, and power in the capital was virtually paralyzed.

On the 28th, a demonstration began in front of the Aurora. Workers filled the ship. When they learned that there had been shooting on the ship the day before, outrage arose. The dissatisfied detained Captain Nikolsky and another officer Ogranovich. Their shoulder straps were torn off. The two were mauled to death by the crowd in the growing chaos of the demonstration. Nikolsky was shot dead for not wanting to go in with a red cloth in his hands. The officers failed to protect the ship from the agitators.

Restless 1917

In 1917, the Aurora ship model was still combat-ready and relatively modern. The cruiser, despite all the costs of war and revolution, could be used for its intended purpose. After the February events and the overthrow of the monarchy, the sailors established a ship's committee. There were many representatives of the left parties, but not a single Bolshevik.

However, in the summer the situation has changed radically. Lenin's supporters carefully worked with the army and navy. Therefore, they, of course, could not ignore such an important cruiser "Aurora". The history of the ship was briefly known to all residents of the capital. If the Bolsheviks managed to win over the ship's crew to their side, this would be an unconditional success.

The most eloquent agitators of the party (for example, Mikhail Kalinin) spoke on the Aurora, which emphasized its special attitude towards the ship standing in the parking lot. The result was not long in coming. By summer, the committee already had 42 representatives of the RSDLP(b). Sailors began to actively participate in Bolshevik street actions. On July 4, during a mass demonstration in Petrograd, sailors came under machine-gun fire from an army that remained loyal to the Provisional Government. Soon the repressions against the Bolsheviks began. Lenin fled to a hut in Razliv, and some especially zealous sailors of the Aurora were under arrest.

October Revolution

In September, the next re-elections of the ship committee took place. Bolshevik Alexander Belyshev was elected its chairman. Nikolai Erickson became the captain. Since the repair of the ship was completed, it was soon to go to sea. However, on October 10, the Bolsheviks, at a meeting of the Central Committee, decided on an armed coup in Petrograd. They needed the Aurora not only as a well-armed cruiser, but also as an important symbol.

The Bolsheviks controlled not only the ship, but also the Petrograd Soviet. According to his decision, on October 24, the sailors left the ship in St. Petersburg. "Aurora" was supposed to reduce City authorities tried to block the crossings in order to stop the coup in the capital, and the rebels tried to prevent this.

On the night of October 25, the ship entered the Neva. Captain Erickson initially resisted this decision, but nevertheless agreed. He was afraid that inept sailors would simply run the ship aground. The Nikolaevsky bridge was in the hands of the junkers. As the Aurora approached, they fled, and the Bolshevik supporters were able to restore traffic across the river.

Blank shot

By the morning of October 25, Lenin from Smolny controlled the entire communication infrastructure of Petrograd - the telegraph, post office, railway station, etc. The Provisional Government still remained in the Winter Palace. The Bolsheviks were going to bombard him with Peter and Paul Fortress, in case of refusal of ministers to hand it over.

How could Aurora help in the assault? The type of ship and its armament made it possible to fire a signal shot. The Bolsheviks decided to take advantage of this opportunity. On the afternoon of the 25th, Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, the head of the field headquarters of Lenin's supporters, arrived on the ship. He ordered a blank shot, which was planned to be fired after a signal from the Peter and Paul Tower. In addition, the Bolsheviks used the radio on the Aurora to broadcast the appeal of the leader of the world proletariat.

A blank shot rang out at 21:40. It was produced by gunner Yevdokim Ognev. The shot served as a signal for the storming of the Winter Palace. In addition, he caused the ministers of the Provisional Government, who had settled in their last stronghold, to panic. Historians are still arguing about whether it was technically possible for Aurora to fire on the Winter Palace in the field. Some researchers argue that there could be no fire to kill, if only because of the location of the ship. One way or another, no further firing was needed. The Winter Palace ended up in the hands of the rebels without the help of the Aurora.

Subsequent history

The episode that took place during the October Revolution became the most famous for the Aurora cruiser. The history of the ship was immediately turned into an important image of the birth of Soviet power. Three days after the events in the Winter Palace, he returned for repairs. Soon the Aurora again became part of the operating fleet.

In the summer of 1918, the power of the Bolsheviks was still fragile. Near Petrograd, the offensive of Yudenich's white army developed. The Aurora class of ship could do nothing to help the battles on the ground. Nevertheless, it was decided to use the cruiser in a slightly different way. At the same time, Petrograd faced the threat of foreign intervention. The Bolsheviks wanted to sink the Aurora and several other ships in order to block the path of enemy ships. However, there was no such need.

In peacetime, the Aurora ship, whose photo was featured on the front pages of many Russian and foreign newspapers during the October events in Petrograd, became a training ship. The cruiser participated in several foreign voyages. During these expeditions, new sailors of the RKKF gained experience. On the tenth anniversary of the revolution in 1927, Aurora was awarded the Order of the Red Banner.

The ship made its last long-distance voyage in 1930, when it circled the Scandinavian Peninsula. A long overhaul followed. However, he could not smooth over the fact that the ship was outdated. By 1941, it was generally planned to withdraw from the fleet, but this was prevented by the onset of the war.

During the blockade of Leningrad, the Aurora was subjected to numerous bombardments by German aircraft. Even at the beginning of the war, the Soviet leadership decided to make the ship part of the city's air defense system. The ship had several anti-aircraft guns that could be useful in the fight against Luftwaffe aircraft. The shelling led to the fact that the ship received many holes. At the end of 1941, the sailors were evacuated. The shooting at the Aurora stopped only after the blockade was lifted.

In the eternal parking

In 1944, it was decided to send the ship to eternal parking near Petrogradskaya Embankment and turn it into a museum. By that time, there were almost no such legendary monuments as the Aurora cruiser in the entire Soviet Union. The excursion on the ship has become obligatory for tourists of the Northern capital.

Over the next few decades, the Aurora went through a dozen restorations. In 2014, the ship was sent to Kronstadt for another repair. It is planned that he will return to the eternal parking at the Petrogradskaya embankment in the summer of 2016.

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. So late dates 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. 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 - in different sources two names are called: K.M. Tokarevsky and De Grofe, and officially the construction was carried out at the New Admiralty plant, under the leadership of the Society of Franco-Russian Plants.

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 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 historical tool that announced " new era proletarian revolution,” the senior midshipman, winking slyly at us, said: “Read carefully the plate on the shield, it says that a historical shot was fired from the cruiser’s bow gun. And it is not said anywhere about the fact that they fired specifically from this gun.”

May 24, 1900 in the New Admiralty of St. Petersburg, with the personal participation of Tsar Nicholas II, the Aurora was launched, which during the October Revolution became one of the destroyers of the Russian Empire.

This cruiser of the 1st rank of the Baltic Fleet was laid down in 1897 in St. Petersburg at the New Admiralty shipyard. The Aurora was launched on the personal instructions of Emperor Nicholas II, in the presence of two empresses (the dowager and the wife of the tsar) and numerous members of the Imperial family. In July 1903, the Aurora entered service. In September 1903, the Aurora, as part of a detachment of cruisers under Rear Admiral A. A. Virenius, was sent to the Far East.

On May 27 and 28, 1905, the Cruiser took part in the Battle of Tsushima, in this battle the crew lost 15 people killed and more than 80 wounded. The captain of the ship E.R. Egoriev died - he was killed by a fragment of a projectile that fell into the conning tower. Unlike most other ships, the Aurora escaped destruction, together with two other cruisers managed to break through to a neutral port (Manila), where it was interned on May 25 (June 7), 1905.

In 1906, the Aurora returned to the Baltic, where it became a training ship for the naval corps.

From the autumn of 1911 to the summer of 1912, the Aurora went to the third farthest to participate in the celebrations on the occasion of the coronation of the King of Thailand, and also visited the ports of the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Aurora took part in the First World War. At the end of 1916, the ship was sent for serious repairs to Petrograd, to the Franco-Russian factory.

The cruiser was one of the first to join the February Revolution and raised the red flag. Most of the crew in 1917 joined the Bolsheviks. On the night of October 25, 1917, on the orders of the Military Revolutionary Committee, the Aurora team captured and brought down the Nikolaevsky Bridge in Petrograd, which connected Vasilyevsky Island with the city center.

On October 25, at 21:45, a blank shot from the Aurora's bow gun, fired on the orders of Commissar Belyshev, gave the signal to storm the Winter Palace. On November 28 (December 11), 1917, the Aurora, after repairs, returned to the 2nd cruiser brigade in Sveaborg. After the decree on the dissolution of the old fleet and the organization of the new RKKF on a voluntary basis, most of the team was demobilized. In 1918, the cruiser was transferred to Kronstadt and mothballed.

Since 1922, the Aurora again became a training ship, but during the Great Patriotic War, the turret guns were dismantled from the cruiser and used to protect Leningrad from the Nazis. The cruiser itself was fired on September 30, 1941 and sank in the port of Oranienbaum. After the war, the Aurora was raised, restored and placed in perpetual parking. In 1984, the cruiser was again sent for a major restoration, which lasted until 1987. During the restoration, a part of the ship below the waterline, due to the impossibility of restoration, was replaced with a new welded one. Now

The ship of the Navy number one returned after repairs at the Kronstadt Marine Plant to its eternal mooring at Petrogradskaya Embankment in St. Petersburg. All work on it has been successfully completed. The pride of the Russian fleet, the favorite of the Northern capital, has restored its former architectural and historical appearance. And this is an important sign that we are finally starting to preserve the relics of our own history, regardless of the turns of the ideological conjuncture. The ship, which in Soviet times personified the start of the victorious October Revolution, after the completion of the reconstruction, returns to the center of St. Petersburg to decorate the sea capital and give rich food for thought and a reason for pride to representatives of various generations and cultures.

Ship number one of the Russian Navy was handed over to him in the presence of Deputy Commander-in-Chief Vice Admiral A.N. Fedotenkov and towed to St. Petersburg. The acceptance certificate following the results of the repair of the Aurora was signed on July 15, 2016 in a solemn ceremony at the Kronstadt Marine Plant.

The operation to return the ship to the place of eternal parking was carried out at night, when the water level in the Neva is at its highest. The cruiser "Aurora" left the Kronstadt Marine Plant at 21.00.

The cruiser was escorted to the place of eternal parking by five tugs, one of which was assigned to the Leningrad naval base, diving and fire boats.

"Aurora" was the first to go to the planned drawing of bridges from 15 to 16 July. All other ships entering and leaving the Neva missed the legendary cruiser. The schedule for the night passage of the ship along the Neva was agreed in advance with the schedule for the drawing of the bridges - Blagoveshchensky, Palace and Troitsky.

In the dead of night, the ship, with full illumination, approached its mooring place, where a complex operation was carried out to unroll it and wind it up to the mooring place between four installed barrels, establish mooring lines and set up a gangway bridge weighing 17 tons. All these actions were completed by the morning of July 16.

For the return of the cruiser, the place of its parking was prepared by special boats from the Leningrad naval base. Measurements carried out by naval hydrographs and navigational calculations showed that the depth reserve under the keel of the Aurora near Petrogradskaya Embankment would be 1.75 meters. This, according to the sailors, guarantees the safety of the anchorage of the ship of the first rank. While the Aurora was not in place, the city reconstructed the Petrogradskaya embankment and inspected the communications to which the cruiser was connected.

The performance characteristics of the cruiser "Aurora"

"Aurora" - armored cruiser the first rank of the Baltic Fleet type "Diana". Built at the New Admiralty in St. Petersburg in 1903.

The cruiser "Aurora" was armed with 42 guns of four different calibers, three torpedo tubes. Its total displacement is 7130 tons, and the thickness of the armor is from 63.5 mm on the deck to 152 mm on the wheelhouse. He could go at a speed of 19.2 knots, and his maximum range was 4,000 nautical miles. The crew of the cruiser consisted of 570 people, including 20 officers. The cruiser is 126.8 meters long, 16.8 meters wide and has a draft depth of 6.4 meters.

The history of the service of the cruiser "Aurora"

Aurora received its baptism of fire during Russo-Japanese War- she was one of two Russian ships that survived the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905. After the war in 1906, the cruiser returned to St. Petersburg and became a training ship on which cadets and midshipmen of the Naval Corps practiced. Small-caliber artillery was partially removed from the ship, two 152-mm guns were added.

With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the cruiser became part of the 2nd cruiser brigade of the Baltic Fleet, conducted artillery firing and carried out sentinel service. By the summer of 1914, fourteen 152-mm guns and four 75-mm anti-aircraft guns were installed on the Aurora.

After the October Revolution

On November 7 (October 25, O.S.), 1917, the ship found itself in the center of revolutionary events: it is believed that the blank shot of the Aurora was the signal for the Bolsheviks to capture the Winter Palace. However, according to the testimony of a number of eyewitnesses of the events, the assault then began without a signal from the ship.

Cruiser "Aurora": the pride of the Russian fleet

After the revolution, the cruiser was in the reserve of the fleet, its guns were removed and transferred to the armament of the Volga flotilla. In 1922, it was decided to restore the Aurora as a training ship.

In this capacity, the cruiser received ten new 130 mm guns and became part of the Baltic Fleet Naval Forces.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. the personnel and guns of the Aurora took part in the defense of Leningrad, and the ship itself, which was in Oranienbaum, was included in the air defense system of Kronstadt, having received new anti-aircraft guns. After being hit by several artillery shells on September 30, 1941, the ship landed on the ground in the Oranienbaum harbor.

Training base and museum ship

In October 1948, after the refurbishment, the Aurora was put into eternal parking at the Petrogradskaya embankment in Leningrad. Until 1956, the cruiser was the training base of the Leningrad Nakhimov School. On July 5, 1956, the Ship Museum was opened on the ship by the forces of personnel and veterans as a branch of the Central Naval Museum. In 1960, by a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, the ship was taken under state protection as a historical and revolutionary monument and became one of the symbols of the 1917 revolution and Leningrad. In particular, his image was placed on the Order of the October Revolution, the cruiser itself was awarded this order in 1968.

In the first half of the 1980s. the Aurora hull fell into disrepair, and in 1984 repair and restoration work began. On August 16, 1987, the cruiser was returned to its place of parking.

On July 26, 1992, the Andreevsky naval flag returned to the Russian Navy was raised on the ship.
In the 1990s - 2000s. about 500 thousand people annually visited the museum on the cruiser "Aurora", more than 2 thousand excursions were held. Over a thousand historical exhibits and documents were stored on board the ship. The exposition includes 10 flags and banners of the ship, 14 orders and 24 medals, which were awarded to members of the cruiser's crew in different years. An exhibition of gifts from government, military and public organizations from different countries was opened. Over 30 million people from more than 160 countries of the world have visited the museum during its operation.

On December 1, 2010, by order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, the cruiser was withdrawn from the combat strength of the Navy and transferred to the balance of the Naval Museum. The military unit serving on the ship was disbanded. February 6, 2012 "Aurora" was included in the federal state institution of culture and art "Central Naval Museum" of the Ministry of Defense as a branch.

The history of repairs of the cruiser "Aurora"

The historical armored cruiser Aurora, which operated as part of the Russian Imperial and then the Soviet Baltic Fleet, was repeatedly repaired at the docks of the Kronstadt Marine Plant and other plants in St. Petersburg-Petrograd-Leningrad. The results of the last one can be seen today.

"Aurora" in a concrete shirt. Repair from 1945 to 1947.

The ship met the Great Patriotic War at the wall in the harbor of Oranienbaum (now Lomonosov) on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland. In the second half of September 1941, during massive German air raids, the cruiser received holes, shells exploded in the hold. Having taken on board thousands of tons of water, the ship landed on the ground and remained in a semi-flooded state almost until the end of the war.

In 1944, a decision was made to restore the cruiser as a monument to the revolution. In the summer of 1945, the Aurora was raised, the water was pumped out, and the holes were patched up. The condition of the Aurora was difficult: after an emergency repair, the cruiser leaked and again sat on the ground. The ship was towed to Kronstadt, where it was docked at the Marine Plant.

In the autumn of 1945, the cruiser was transferred to Leningrad, where repair and restoration work continued until the end of 1947.

During overhaul the appearance of the ship has changed, approaching what it had in 1917. "Aurora" restored add-ons, including completely replaced chimneys heavily damaged during the war. They installed weapons, the same type as those that stood in 1917, but on coastal machines. The bow bridge was restored, the wooden flooring of the upper deck was made of pine. Significant changes have also taken place inside the ship. Worn-out boilers were removed from the Aurora, replaced with two new ones, two of the three main steam engines were dismantled, the armored shafts of the engine and boiler rooms, and part of the auxiliary mechanisms were cut and removed. In total, about a thousand tons of various mechanisms were unloaded from the cruiser.

The changes especially affected the underwater part of the hull. A survey conducted in 1945 showed that she was in a condition that allowed her further operation afloat. It was decided to achieve water resistance with the help of internal concreting of the skin.

Sealing damage to the hull with concrete was considered the most effective and durable in those years. Sealing work was carried out by the workers of the Sudobetonverf plant afloat, simultaneously with other work carried out in the surface part of the hull. Concreting was preceded by laborious cleaning of surfaces. Then welded to the set steel reinforcement from bars with a diameter of 6–8 mm, which formed a grid with cells of 70x70 mm, and poured concrete from high-grade cement into it. Reinforced concrete cladding was carried out throughout inner surface outer skin to approximately one meter above the waterline. The result was a waterproof concrete "shirt" with a thickness of 50 to 90 mm and a weight of about 450 tons.

Since November 1947, the ship was placed on the Bolshaya Nevka near Petrogradskaya Embankment (now Petrovskaya Embankment). For many years, the Aurora served as a training base for cadets of the Nakhimov Naval School.

The museum on the Aurora began to be created in 1950 by personnel, veterans and enthusiasts. Since 1956, the museum exposition of the cruiser has become a branch of the Central Naval Museum.

Stay afloat. Refurbishment from 1984 to 1987

By the end of the 1970s, the problem reappeared: the outer underwater part of the hull corroded, the inner concrete "shirt" cracked in many places and lost its tightness. The ship began to receive water, which had to be pumped out using pumps. The question of repair arose with a new urgency.

Relevant work from 1984 to 1987 was carried out by the Leningrad Shipbuilding Plant. A.A. Zhdanov () on the project. The repair was preceded by survey and design work. In the Central State Archive of the Fleet, specialists studied about 6,000 files from 13 funds, more than 500 drawings, descriptions, documents, albums on mechanical installations and artillery weapons.

According to the developers of the repair project, the cruiser was an engineering structure that lived according to the laws and traditions of the naval service. So, while maintaining it, it was necessary to read such qualities as strength, unsinkability, fire safety and resistance to aggressive environmental factors.

“It was decided to restore the ship not in the form of a frozen monument, but as a living story of the historical days of the Great October Revolution, to keep the cruiser afloat under the flag of the USSR Navy with the preservation and updating of the museum,” wrote Victor Burov, scientific supervisor of the work on the restoration and preservation of the Aurora . However, this approach assumed strict requirements for the condition of the hull, mechanisms and installations.

The concept of the Aurora as a monument ship afloat as part of the fleet was diametrically opposed to the concept advocated by numerous opponents.

In short, their proposals were reduced to a sparing repair and careful restoration of the hull, equipment and mechanisms.

Several options for protection from environmental influences were proposed: from placing the cruiser on an underwater pedestal to creating a floating underwater dock.

As a result, the arguments of the developers of the repair project were accepted - the collapsing underwater part up to 1.2 m above the waterline was considered unsuitable for repair and cut off. The new underwater part was made from modern materials. The wooden and copper parts of the hull plating were not recreated. The new underwater and old surface parts of the hull were connected by welding.

The surface part was divided into four sections installed on the new underwater part. A boiler room was created in the engine room, placing museum exhibits there - models of two boilers of the Belleville - Dolgolenko system and elements of the stoker equipment.

They put in order and installed the stern main machine. The carapace deck was re-made. Most of the old armor plates returned to it.

But the most important task was to recreate the external architectural and historical appearance and internal structure of the ship on the eve of the October Revolution.

All upper-deck structures and equipment were restored: artillery mounts, deckhouses, bridges, a radio station, boat and searchlight weapons, emergency and mooring devices, cargo devices, etc. Significant work was required to recreate the internal premises associated with the combat activities of the cruiser. The pipes and masts of the cruiser were made from scratch. However, those that stood before the repair were also not original - they were installed in the late 40s. It was decided to leave the guns on coastal machines.

Almost all of the interior of the ship was redesigned. On the battery deck there is a museum compartment with an exposition and working rooms for employees, a team catering unit with a galley, an officer's quarters, a wardroom and a commander's saloon. Below, on the living deck, are the living quarters of the crew, equipped to meet the habitability requirements of a modern Navy. The systems of communications, electricity, fire extinguishing have been modernized.

According to the developers of the repair, the technology used made it possible to use genuine hull parts to the maximum extent. For example, the contours and such unique structures as a bronze cast stem and archer stem with a rudder blade were completely preserved.

The task of reviving to the greatest possible extent the appearance of the historical cruiser and the details of its design, armament, equipment from the time of 1917 was recognized as completed. After repair and restoration work, which lasted three years, "Aurora" in August 1987 was returned to its parking place - on the Petrogradskaya embankment near the Nakhimovsky VMU.

The results of the repair by specialists and the public were perceived ambiguously.

The main claim of opponents is that, in their opinion, the work carried out was a rework, not a restoration.

Many drew attention to the loss during the repair of many valuable pieces of equipment and mechanisms of the historic Aurora, and the decision to leave the cruiser afloat was also criticized, while it could be installed on an underwater pedestal or in a special floating dock.

The decision to cut off the entire underwater part and attach a welded new one is still especially objectionable, especially since the old cut-off part was treated really barbarically. It was not dismantled and not disposed of, but along with many preserved parts of the equipment, they were left to rust in one of the bays near St. Petersburg. Until now, the huge, more than a hundred-meter, remains of the historical Aurora look out from the waters of the Gulf of Finland. This gives many people reason to call the current Aurora a dummy or model of an old cruiser.

Rumors do not subside that there are two "Aurora" - a fake current one and a drowned real one. In any case, according to estimates, no more than 40% of the historical Aurora remained.

However, if many criticisms are true, it must be taken into account that over the hundred years of its existence, the ship has been rebuilt, modernized and re-equipped more than once. That is, by 1984 it was far from the original, launched in 1900.

Repair of the museum ship in 2014–2016

The cruiser was towed for repairs to the Kronstadt Marine Plant on September 21, 2014. According to the Aurora Board of Trustees, the cost of repairing the cruiser amounted to about 840 million rubles, which were used to renew the ship's hull and create a new exposition of the branch of the Central Naval Museum operating on the Aurora.

The shipbuilders carried out the most significant amount of work in the interior of the Aurora. The museum exposition was updated, the premises of the cruiser's crew were restored, modern systems video monitoring and fire extinguishing. According to experts, in the future, Aurora will need to dock every 5-10 years to assess the thinning of the hull over time.

Holding repair work"Aurora" at the Kronstadt Marine Plant in 2014-2016, unlike all previous repairs, did not involve any intervention in the design of the ship, rebuilding the hull, or radical re-equipment of the interior. The repair concept is based on the perception of the historical cruiser as an operating ship of the fleet, a monument ship afloat.

In the fall of 2014, the cruiser was docked. Particular attention was paid to a thorough examination of the state of the hull, especially its underwater part, and mechanisms in contact with the external environment. An ultrasonic examination of the hull found that over the years that have passed since the last repair, the dynamics of hull corrosion is practically absent.

An examination of the bottom-outboard reinforcement led to the decision to completely replace it. During the dock repair, the outer hull of the ship, the underwater and surface parts were cleaned and painted. In addition, tanks, tanks and a number of other mechanisms were repaired, pressure testing and a tightness check of the adjoining bronze rods and a steel body were carried out. Despite the fact that the stems were made during the years of the ship's construction, no damage was found. An examination of the hull connections made in 1987 revealed their quality.

The re-docking of the Aurora was carried out in the spring of 2016. Of the major repair tasks, it is necessary to single out the examination of power cable routes, the replacement of the electrical network, the repair of decks, masts and all life support systems of the ship, the installation of spars, the replacement of rigging, the repair of boat devices, boats, boats, the restoration of the superstructure, hull structures and practical things.

During the repair, not only the ship itself was updated, but also its life support systems. In particular, it is equipped with the latest domestic water mist fire extinguishing system. It provides extinguishing fires with high-pressure water mist, or the so-called water mist with a droplet size of less than one hundred microns and is not inferior to the best foreign models in terms of characteristics. New system video surveillance from 52 cameras almost completely eliminates the possibility of unnoticed entry into the ship.

The main work was carried out by the specialists of the Marine Plant.

Museum ship

In 1956, it was decided to establish a museum of naval and revolutionary glory on board the legendary cruiser, and to store exhibits in the exposition of this unusual cruiser museum that will help to trace its glorious history in detail: documentary photographs, ship items and documents that represent great historical value.

In 1960, the Aurora became one of the monuments protected by the state. In 1968, she was awarded the Order of the October Revolution, on which she herself was depicted. Since 2013, the cruiser has been returned to the Navy. On board the cruiser is a branch of the Central Naval Museum.

During the repair, which was completed in July 2016, the historical appearance of the flagship cabin was restored, the design project of which was approved by the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy. Redecoration was carried out in the cockpits of the crew and the wardroom.

In addition to dock work and updating the ship's equipment, the museum part has been redone. Updated teak deck,

During the repair, a new museum exposition was created on board the Aurora. It has been expanded, and its character has also been changed. If earlier the museum spoke about the Aurora primarily as a cruiser of the October Revolution, now it presents the ship as a veteran of three wars: the Russian-Japanese war of 1904-1905, the First World War and the Great Patriotic War.

A new part of the exposition was the medical block, where X-ray equipment was used for the first time in Russia.

The exposition site is provided with lighting, air conditioning systems, etc. The exposition has been increased from 6 to 9 halls. Expositions saturated with multimedia equipment have been created.

The stern of the Aurora was adorned with a new order flag, developed by the heraldic service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

The ship is an object of cultural heritage of the Russian Federation. The cartoon "Aurora" was filmed about him, and he was also shown in the film "Cruiser" Varyag "". "Aurora" is dedicated to a number of songs, she is depicted on many postage stamps, both Soviet and foreign. In addition, the image of the cruiser was minted on commemorative coins of 1967 in denominations of 10, 15 and 20 kopecks.

Photo report on the repair of the cruiser "Aurora" at the Kronstadt Marine Plant (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation).