| Aurora in St. Petersburg | |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | 1896 |
| Launched: | 24 May 1900 |
| Commissioned: | 29 July 1903 |
| Fate: | museum ship |
| Decommissioned: | 1945 ? |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 6731 tons |
| Length: | 126.8 m (- ft) |
| Beam: | 16.8 m (- ft) |
| Draft: | 7.3 m (- ft) |
| Speed: | 19 knots |
| Complement: | 570 - 720 |
| Armament: | 1903: eight 152 mm (6in) guns, 24 x 75 mm guns, 8 x 37 mm guns, 3 torpedo launchers 1917: fourteen 152 mm guns, 4 x 76 mm AA guns, MG's, 3 torpedo launchers |
The Aurora (correctly: Avrora - in Russian language: Аврора) is a Russian protected cruiser, currently preserved as a museum ship in St. Petersburg. She became a symbol of the communist revolution in Russia.
She was one of three Diana-class cruisers, built in St. Petersburg for a service in the Far East (on the Pacific). All the ships served during the Russo-Japanese War (the other two ships of the class, Diana and Pallada, were sunk by the Japanese in Port Arthur in 1904).
Aurora was included into the Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron, which was sent from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific, under the command of Admiral Rozhestvenski. On 27 and 28 May 1905, Aurora took part in the battle of Tsushima, along with the rest of the Russian squadron. Aurora manged to avoid being destroyed like the majority of the Russian vessels, and along with two other cruisers broke through to a neutral Manilla, where she was interned.
In 1906 Aurora returned to the Baltic and became a cadet training ship. Then, she served in the First World War. In 1915 her armament was changed to fourteen 152 mm (6in) guns. In the end of 1916, the ship was moved to Sankt Petersburg (then: Petrogrod) for a major repair. The city was full of revolutionary ferment by then. A part of her crew joined the bourgeois 1917 February Revolution. A revolutionary committee was created on the ship. Great part of the crew joined bolsheviks, who were preparing for the communist revolution.
On 7 November 1917, at 9.40pm, a shoot from Aurora gun became a signal to start an attack on Winter Palace, that was the first episode of the communist Russian Revolution.
In 1922 Aurora was brought to service again as a training ship. During the world war II, the guns were taken from the ship and used for land defence of Leningrad. On 30 September 1941 she was damaged and sunk in harbour.
After repair in 1945-1947, Aurora was made the museum ship, anchoring on the Neva in Leningrad (currently: St. Petersburg). In 1984-87, the ship was reconstructed (part of her construction was replaced by the new one).