The low October sky above the quiet northern city and the slender silhouette of a warship waiting for something... For more than 100 years, many representatives of the bourgeoisie and the ruling circles of all countries have been shivering from this picture. The armored cruiser "Aurora", born at the beginning of the turbulent twentieth century, received the same stormy biography.
The ship did not fight so much, but it saw three wars, and the victories behind it are those that would be enough for a whole fleet. "Aurora" is a ship that with one shot made its way into life for a new historical era.
Naval reinforcement projects
Aurora is the goddess of the dawn. The romantic name assigned to the cruiser, in a strange way, predetermined the fate of his country. Aurora was born at the turn of the eras. It was created for the time, determined to divide by force the already divided world. But in fact, the cruiser launched the era of raising to the top of the social ladder those who had previously been nothing.
New cruisers, including the Aurora, were built as part of the military program to strengthen the Russian fleet in 1895. There were objective reasons for the arms race - Russia had information about the buildup of the Japanese fleet, and foreigners should not have dominated the Baltic Sea.
The future world war was in the air. The Tripartite Alliance had already been created, the process of forming the Entente was beginning (in 1895, the Franco-Russian alliance was concluded). Spheres of influence had to be won back from competitors - there were no free places on the planet.
As part of the program to strengthen the fleet, it was supposed to build 3 armored cruisers of the 1st rank. All of them received ancient names - "Diana", "Pallas" and "Aurora". Why they were called that is unclear, but the king personally gave the order to do so.
Their laying took place in May 1897, on the same day, although the construction did not proceed synchronously. Aurora was listed as lagging behind - the work on its construction was constantly behind schedule.
Technical characteristics and disadvantages of the ship
The Aurora ship project assumed that the cruiser would become a worthy rival to enemy ships. The description of its characteristics looked convincing for its time:
- Dimensions: draft - 6.2-6.4 m; width - 16.8 m; length - 126.7 m.
- Normal displacement - 6731 tons, full - 7130 tons.
- Personnel - 570 people (including 20 officers). The number of crew during the service varied slightly.
- The power plant included three steam engines, each of which worked on its own propeller. The total power was almost 12 thousand hp.
- The design speed was assumed to be up to 20 knots, in fact the cruiser did not develop more than 19.2 knots.
- The initial armament of the cruiser consisted of eight 152 mm / 45 Kane guns, 24 Kane anti-mine guns of 75 mm caliber (barrel length 50 calibers), auxiliary artillery (eight 37 mm guns). To support the landing on board there were two 63.5 mm Baranovsky cannons on wheeled carriages. Additionally, three 381 mm torpedo tubes were installed (one in the bow and one on each side). In 1904, the cruiser was equipped with a pair of 7.62 mm Maxim machine guns.
- The protection of the ship consisted of an armor deck with a thickness of 38 to 63.5 mm. The thickening of the sheets was located above the critical sections of the structure. The command post was located in the conning tower, which had protection 152 mm thick. The shields installed later on the main caliber had a thickness of 25.4 mm.
- Cruising range in economy mode - 4000 miles.
But there are tricks in these beautiful numbers. A speed of 20 knots was not enough for a cruiser at that time (the same Varyag, according to the project, was supposed to give out 23 knots, and Askold showed 24.5 knots in tests). Tests have shown that the ship does not even pull this figure - speed above 19.2 knots was not recorded.
The cruiser's guns were deprived of armor protection. This shortcoming, however, was corrected before the ship entered the first battle - conclusions were drawn from the unfortunate fate of the same Varyag.
During the construction and service of the cruiser, changes were made to its weapons system. For example, the number of torpedo tubes was changed during the construction process - there were three of them instead of one. Significant changes were made during the First World War.
Ceremonial start of the service
The laying and launching of the Aurora took place in a solemn atmosphere. Delays in the production of works did not affect this.
The cruiser left the slipway (in May 1900) in the presence of Nicholas II and two empresses - the dowager and the reigning one.
The further course of work went worse. Completion and sea trials of the ship took another three years, and the cruiser entered service only in June 1903. The first exit to the sea took place even later - in September of the same year.
As part of the squadron of Admiral Virenius, the ship visited the ports of North Africa (Algiers, Suez). The trip revealed shortcomings and defects of steam engines, which had to be eliminated by the crew and coastal specialists.
And then the history of the ship began to develop mysteriously. "Aurora" was both a failure and a phenomenal lucky. She was constantly exposed to minor vicissitudes of fate, but remained relatively unscathed in serious trials.
Lucky Tsushima battle
The ship's first campaign was the Russo-Japanese War. And the biography of the cruiser in a strange way reflected the peculiarities of Russia's position in this war. The Aurora squadron got into the squadron immediately upon returning to the Baltic.
The cruiser became one of the few ships in the squadron that had the experience of a long-distance voyage.
At the same time, there is a change of commander - captain 1st rank E.R. Egoriev.
The Aurora learned about the beginning of the war in the Far East on January 31, 1904 during a stop in Djibouti. At the same time, an order to return was received. In April 1904, the ship returned to Kronstadt, and was immediately included in the squadron of Admiral Rozhdestvensky, who was leaving to fight Japan.
The campaign began with a bad omen. October 7, while passing by the British Isles, the squadron got into the fog. In conditions of poor visibility, the sailors confused the fishing ships and their own squadron mates with the enemy and began firing. At sea, such things are sarcastically referred to as "friendly fire." There were victims, and the ship's priest died on the Aurora.
This event, called the Hull Incident, led to a serious international scandal. And the squadron set off on a further journey with a bad parting word. Her path ended near the island of Tsushima.
Winner in a lost fight
The Tsushima battle was a disaster for the Russian fleet. But not for the Aurora cruiser. He took part in the battle, but remained afloat and escaped capture.
Admiral Rozhdestvensky, among his other mistakes, lined up the squadron incorrectly. As a result, many cruisers, including the Aurora, could not immediately join the battle and help their own at its initial stage. But then the ship entered the battle and bravely resisted the attacks of the Japanese cruisers on the transport ships of the Russian squadron. The flag was knocked down on it 6 times, but the team raised it again.
The ship was seriously damaged, but retained the ability to move independently.
At one point in the battle, cartridges caught fire on it, but the serving sailors managed to prevent an explosion of ammunition. The cruiser managed to reach the Philippines under its own power, where it was interned by the US military. But the team was allowed to carry out repairs.
Personnel losses were significant. 10 people were killed, 5 more later died of wounds. There were 80 wounded. But even here bad luck happened - the only officer who died was Captain 1st Rank E.R. Egoriev, the commander of the cruiser.
He was one of the first to die, and the cruiser fought under the command of first the senior navigator, and then the senior officer A.K. Nebolsin.
Revenge for neglect
It turned out that near Tsushima, the Aurora in a peculiar way took revenge on the commander of the squadron, Admiral Rozhdestvensky, for neglect. The squadron commander came up with a variety of, often offensive, nicknames for all the ships of his formation. He did not hesitate to call the ships "Idiots" and "Toadies" out loud. He especially "loved" Aurora, probably for her feminine name. Therefore, in his lexicon, the cruiser was designated as a fence ... a lady with low social responsibility.
At the same time, unbiased eyewitnesses noted that the cruiser makes a good impression, the team is hardworking and quick, order reigns everywhere.
They showed special dexterity on the ship in loading coal and always had fuel in reserve.
Fate restored justice. The Aurora team near Tsushima showed its best side, withstood a worthy dangerous battle and managed to save the ship. And at the very beginning of the battle, Rozhdestvensky practically lost control over its course. After the end of the war, he was put on trial for unprofessionalism, which led to the death of the squadron, and found guilty.
Naval Rescue Service
Upon returning to Russia in 1906, the Aurora was put in for repairs - work was not completed in Manila. In the course of the work, the armament was changed - all the useless 37 mm artillery was removed, leaving only two installations on the boats, and two 75 mm guns were removed. Two more 75 mm guns were removed, instead of which 152 mm mounts were installed. A relic of the sailing fleet - the combat mars, as well as onboard torpedo tubes, disappeared. Fire extinguishing systems and reservations have undergone improvements.
Between the Russo-Japanese and World War I, the Aurora performed somewhat unusual duties for a warship. Her team had to act as rescuers and firefighters.
In 1908, during a foreign raid, the ship's crew assisted the Italians who suffered from the famous Messina earthquake. In Italy, the help of Russian sailors was highly appreciated, and in 1910 they invited the cruiser to Messina in order to present the captain with a commemorative medal of honor.
But when the Aurora arrived in the city, a big fire suddenly started there. The cruiser team turned out to be quicker than the Italian firefighters and was the first to start extinguishing.
The Messinians did not have a second medal, and they expressed their gratitude in the form of 1800 oranges and the same number of lemons. With this pleasant cargo, the Aurora went to the Spanish port of Malaga, and well, a fire broke out there, which the cruiser's team also fought.
The time free from rescue activities was devoted to diplomacy.
The Aurora took part in the celebrations on the occasion of the coronation of the monarch of Siam (1911), transported Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich from Italy, and was part of the squadron demonstrating international support for Crete. An important component of the ship's service between the wars was training trips with students of the Naval Corps.
World War at an inexpensive price
Formally, the cruiser fought through the entire First World War - the Aurora was part of the 2nd cruiser brigade. But there were few real battles during this period. One of the few combat episodes was patrolling the accident site of the German cruiser Magdeburg.
As part of the Aurora brigade, she went on cruising patrols. But she had to take part in the battles infrequently (mainly in the 1916 campaign of the year).
At the beginning of the war, the ship was equipped with rails and a hangar for storing 150 mines. The composition of the armament was also changed - 16 75 mm guns that became useless in battle disappeared, the openings in the sides were sealed. Instead, they installed four "six-inch" borrowed from "Diana". In the summer of 1915, new at that time "anti-aeroplane" guns of 40 mm caliber (one barrel) and 75 mm (four pieces) were installed on the ship.
But in the fall of 1916, it was put in for repairs, and the imperialist war for the Aurora de facto ended.
Less attractive target
The World War again demonstrated the strange luckiness of the ship. Such interesting facts mark his entire biography.
During the First World War, the Aurora did not receive significant damage.
But her "sister" "Pallada" sank in a few seconds from a torpedo hit from a German submarine.
Similar luck accompanied the ship during the Great Patriotic War. By the time the war began, the number of his team was only 260 people, then it decreased even more (sailors were sent to the front from an outdated ship). But still, it had 10 130 mm guns, 2 76.2 mm anti-aircraft guns, two general-purpose guns of the same caliber, 3 45 mm guns. In July, as the enemy approached Leningrad, 9 out of 10 main-caliber guns were brought ashore in the Duderhof area.
They were served by Auror sailors. The guns were named battery "A" (from the name of the cruiser). Since the beginning of September 1941, the battery has been actively attacking the approaching enemy. On the 11th of the same month, she was attacked by the enemy, but held out for 8 days, and the sailors, with a shortage of ammunition, tried to spoil the guns. Of the 165 battery personnel, only 25 survived the battle.
The cruiser itself was part of the Oranienbaum air defense system. The data on the results of its activities are inaccurate, but there is evidence that the Aurora managed to shoot down enemy aircraft.
At the same time, the Nazis did not pay much attention to her - just think, an ancient cruiser! And these are the Nazis, who understand the importance of ideology and the moral factor, dreaming of a symbolic parade on Red Square! For some reason, they did not guess that the moral impact of the sinking of the Aurora on the Red Army and the citizens of the USSR would be no less than from the fall of Moscow!
Of course, the ship was shelled. The Aurora has been under fire (air and artillery) since mid-September. She received significant damage, even sat down on the ground. The commander, captain of the 3rd rank Sakov, at the end of the month decided to take the team ashore, but was arrested and shot "for alarmism."
The team stayed on the cruiser until November, and then only the watch at the anti-aircraft gun was left.
However, the damage to the cruiser was not so severe that it sank. After the end of the blockade, the Aurora was removed from the ground and in 1944 put in for repairs.
Signalman of a new era
Children of the USSR listened to stories about the cruiser "Aurora" already in kindergarten. The reason was good - the ship was associated with the beginning of the revolution, was its recognized symbol.
Revolutionary moods arose on the ship during the first Russian revolution, during the stay in the Philippines and immediately after returning to Russia. But then the officers managed to calm the sailors, promising them an early demobilization (this was done) and familiarizing them with the tsar's manifesto of October 17. But the second revolution changed the situation.
During the beginning of the February Revolution of 1917, the cruiser was under repair near the Admiralty Plant. The sailors decided to support the strike that had begun there. But the commander, M.I. Nikolsky, had a different point of view. When the sailors disobeyed his order and tried to go ashore, he began to shoot at them with a revolver.
The case ended badly - the rebel team killed the captain. The riot also killed another officer. But this does not mean that anarchy reigned on the Aurora. The commanders were now elected by the ship's committee, but the cruiser remained fully operational.
Otherwise, the Provisional Revolutionary Committee would not have instructed him on the evening of October 24, 1917, to give a signal with a shot about preparations for the storming of the Winter Palace. To do this, it was necessary to move away from the factory pier and go along the river, which would not have been possible without proper leadership and well-coordinated work of the team. Also, the sailors of the Aurora carried out work on the reduction of the Nikolaevsky bridge, divorced by the cadets.
Killer Shot on the Past
A single shot near the Winter Palace at once turned the Aurora into the most famous ship in the world. Many legends are told about him. The Soviet government considered it the starting point of a new historical era. After the collapse of the USSR, the Aurora gun was condemned by a criminal who dared to shoot at the cultural heritage of mankind. But at the same time, few people know the details about this event.
It was supposed to serve as a signal for the beginning of the final stage of the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks. But not to storm the Winter. The assault began later, and the gun only transmitted a signal of "combat readiness".
She did no harm to the building of the Winter Palace. By the time the revolution began in February, the ship was under repair, live shells were unloaded from it. Later they were not loaded because of the revolutionary mood in the team.
The shot was blank, and could not cause destruction! The goal was to capture the palace, not to destroy or damage it.
The Long Odyssey of the Symbol of Revolution
After her legendary shot, the Aurora remained in service. In addition to participating in the Great Patriotic War, she managed to accomplish many more glorious deeds and fulfill many controversial roles.
- In 1923, the Aurora was re-equipped. The 152 mm main battery was replaced by 130 mm artillery.
- The cruiser rounded the Scandinavian Peninsula in 1924 and came to Murmansk under a red flag. He acted on other countries then in the same way as he could act on a bull in a bullfight.
- Since 1928, the Aurora has become a training ship - at first on the move, then (since 1935) laid up.
- The ship is the star of the screen. He played himself in the film "October" (1927) and "Varyag" in (1946). For the sake of the last role, he was attached an additional fake pipe (Aurora had 3 of them, and Varyag had 4). Even for the smallest viewers, the animators of the USSR created the Aurora cartoon. It is now forgotten, but the song from it sounds and sounds: “The waves are steep, the storms are gray, the ships have such a share” ...
- In 1948, Aurora turned into a residence for graduates of the Nakhimov School. Joining the cruiser team meant for them the last stage of preparation. Then the "Aurora" was laid up on Bolshaya Nevka. She was supposed to never leave this parking lot, but today changed the situation.
- In 1956, a museum was opened on the ship - a branch of the Naval Museum.
- Aurora was awarded the Orders of the Red Banner and the Order of the October Revolution. The second award is all the more appropriate because the image of the cruiser is its most important part.
- The cruiser was depicted on commemorative coins of 1967 dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the revolution.
- After the collapse of the USSR, the cruiser turned into a recreation area for the "new" leadership of the city. This was not hindered even by the raising of the St. Andrew's flag over it in 1992. But the outrage did not last long. In 2010, Aurora finally acquired museum status. The ship is an object of Russian cultural heritage.
Evil tongues say that the current ship has nothing to do with the Aurora that fought near Tsushima and fired at Zimny. Say, numerous alterations turned it into a copy. Indeed, the old ship could not last 100 years without a major overhaul. In addition to the upgrades mentioned, the wooden parts of the hull and the metal sheathing of the underwater part were completely changed on the cruiser (they rotted from time to time).
After being put into eternal parking, running machines and boilers were removed from it, a significant part of the equipment was replaced with copies. The cruiser's guns are also copies - they only reflect the features of its original weapons. The guns were specially made according to old drawings and installed on the cruiser for the sake of historical authenticity.
But it is not important. Now the Aurora is not a combat unit, but a symbol. Its historical significance is not in the age of the metal and the reliability of the equipment, but in the actions performed by the crew of this ship.
Today, its appearance is quite consistent with the historical one.
This can be seen by looking at the surviving photographs, which depict the "Aurora" during the war with Japan and the campaign in Messina.
Veterans do not grow old in soul
You can treat the communist idea and the USSR in different ways. But there was something in the historical shot of the Aurora that does not allow us to move the old ship into the storeroom of history.
The whole world today knows where the Aurora cruiser is located and what it looks like. For 100 years, the magnitude of any historical event has been compared to its shot. Among the symbols of St. Petersburg, the Aurora ship is the youngest, but at the same time the most recognizable.
The silhouette of the cruiser is adorned with the Order of the October Revolution, which veterans of the Great Patriotic War and many important industrial enterprises are justifiably proud of. The older generation of Russians will never forget the purest young voice, the embodiment of their happy childhood: “What are you dreaming about, cruiser Aurora, at the hour when the morning rises over the Neva?”
In 2014, it was put in for another renovation. At the same time, Minister of Defense S. Shoigu stated that, among other things, the cruiser would be returned to running vehicles that had long been replaced by mock-ups. Having exchanged the second century of age, the Aurora is again ready to weigh anchor.
Every year on the Day of the Navy, the old cruiser receives a parade of Baltic ships - the unsinkable flagship of an invincible country.
Having become an official museum, the Aurora has not lost the status of a warship - there are no contradictions here.
"Aurora" will not leave the city on the Neva. Maybe she has changed since her legendary shot. But the cruiser continues to symbolize the same idea - the struggle for respect for work and people of work. Patrols in black pea coats with a formidable name on peakless caps are ready to come after those who profit unjustly and are greedy beyond measure. Isn't that what the old cruiser is dreaming about now?
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The ship has long been a symbol of the revolution, and not everyone now knows that behind her stern are tens of thousands of miles of ocean campaigns, participation in three wars, as well as many thousands of officers trained for the fleet.
Aurora was laid down at the St. Petersburg shipyard "New Admiralty" in May 1897, and launched on May 11, 1900. The cruiser got its name in honor of the sailing 44-gun frigate Aurora, which became famous in battles in the Far East during the war of 1853-56. The cruiser entered service with the warships of the Russian fleet in July 1903. It was a typical ship, two more cruisers of the same project, Diana and Pallada, were built in parallel with it.
With solid dimensions (length 126.7 meters and width 16.8 meters), the Aurora had weak armor - the ship belonged to the category of armored cruisers of the 1st rank. Initially, even part of the artillery pieces on it did not have armored shields. The cruiser had good weapons, it was installed: 152-mm guns - 8, 75-mm - 24, 37-mm - 8, 63.5-mm - 2, as well as three torpedo tubes. Subsequently, the number and caliber of the guns changed several times, anti-aircraft guns, machine guns and a device for installing minefields appeared.
With such a solid armament, the cruiser had a low speed: maximum - a little more than 19 knots, economic - only 11 knots (for comparison, it had 24 and 16 knots) and a small autonomous cruising range (2500 miles at economic speed and 1320 miles at maximum), which significantly reduced the possibility of its combat use. "Aurora" was intended for independent operations at a small distance from the places of deployment, as well as to support battleships in battle during operations as part of a squadron.
The cruiser went on her first campaign on September 25, 1903, it was assumed that she would go to reinforcement. But in connection with the outbreak of war with Japan, the cruiser Aurora, which joined the detachment of ships of Rear Admiral A. A. Virenius in the Mediterranean, was returned to the Baltic.
The cruiser Aurora set off on a new campaign in August 1904 as part of the squadron of Vice Admiral Z. P. Rozhestvensky, which was going to the Pacific Ocean to participate in the Russo-Japanese War. The campaign for the cruiser began unsuccessfully. On October 10, it was mistakenly hit by several shells from other Russian ships that fired on English fishing vessels, mistaken for destroyers in the fog. On the cruiser, the ship's priest was killed and one sailor was wounded.
The cruiser Aurora received its baptism of fire in the Battle of Tsushima on May 14. During the battle, which lasted for the cruiser from 14:30 to 18:00, the Aurora received about 10 direct hits from shells. Fires repeatedly broke out on the cruiser, several compartments were flooded, five guns and all rangefinder stations were out of order. The commander of the ship, Captain 1st Rank E.R. Egoriev, and 14 crew members were killed, 83 people were injured. But the ship did not lose its course and at night, together with the cruisers Oleg and Zhemchug, having fought off the Japanese destroyers, was able to break away from the pursuit of the enemy. The cruisers could not break through to the north towards Vladivostok, and were forced to leave for the neutral Philippine port of Manila, where they were interned by the Americans.
The cruiser Aurora returned to the Baltic in 1906. The ship underwent a major overhaul, after which it became a training ship, on which cadets and midshipmen of the Marine Corps practiced. At that time, the students of the cadet corps, who successfully completed the full course of science, received the title of ship midshipmen and were sent on a long (up to a year or more) voyage on warships, after which they passed exams and received the first naval officer rank "midshipman".
Until the summer of 1912, the Aurora made several voyages with detachments of midshipmen of the Naval Corps of other educational institutions of the fleet, for some time it was a stationary ship in Suda Bay on Crete. During the First World War, the Aurora, as part of the 2nd cruiser brigade, fought in the Baltic, mainly performing reconnaissance and patrol functions, covering the laying of minefields and the actions of light ships. At this time, the firepower of the ship was increased, instead of six 75-mm guns, 152-mm guns were installed, as well as five anti-aircraft guns.
At the end of 1916, the cruiser "Aurora" was repaired in Petrograd, where he took part in the revolutionary events. The crew of the cruiser was strongly influenced by the Bolsheviks, so in preparation for the armed uprising on October 25, 1917, the ship was instructed to enter the Neva and take under the protection of the Nikolaevsky bridge connecting Vasilyevsky Island with the central part of the city. It was from there that the famous Aurora shot sounded. According to a number of historians, the shot was fired much earlier than the assault on the Winter Palace began. This has not played a fundamental role for a long time, since it was the Aurora that became the symbol of the revolution.
Thanks to participation in those events, the name Aurora was retained, although most of the warships were renamed by the new government. During the Civil War, the crew of the Aurora thinned significantly. And in 1919 the ship was put into conservation. The decision to return the ship to service was made in the autumn of 1922. The cruiser "Aurora" again became a training ship, on which, until 1940, cadets of naval educational institutions underwent sea practice.
The cruiser Aurora met the Great Patriotic War in the port of Oranienbaum (now the southwestern part of St. Petersburg). The cruiser itself practically did not participate, except for repelling enemy air raids. Only a small part of the crew remained on the ship, the rest of the sailors, having removed most of the guns from the cruiser, smashed the enemy on the outskirts of Leningrad.
During the three years of the blockade, bombs and shells repeatedly hit the cruiser. The ship had to be put on the ground, as a large amount of water entered the holds through the holes. But even in such difficult conditions, the small crew of the Aurora did not stop fighting for the survivability of the ship. Already in the summer of 1944, the cruiser was raised from the ground and sent for repairs.
In 1948, the repaired cruiser Aurora was anchored off Petrogradskaya Embankment. Until 1956, it was used as a training ship of the Leningrad Nakhimov School, and then a museum was opened on it, which became a branch of the Central Naval Museum. In 1992, the St. Andrew's flag was raised again (75 years later!) on the cruiser Aurora.
For 110 years, the Aurora cruiser has been in service. After it became a museum, the cruiser was visited by tens of millions of people to touch the living history of the glorious Russian Navy. Naturally, less than 50 percent of the original Aurora, launched in May 1900, is left on the cruiser, but this does not detract from the historical value of the ship that honorably carried the St. Andrew's flag through the legendary Battle of Tsushima. It is not for nothing that they say that history comes to life on board the Aurora.
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 historical path of the cruiser would be incomplete.
cruiser project
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 Aurora frigate of the same name, which participated in the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky during the 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 the 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 battle of Tsushima. 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 an undertaking not to participate 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 Libava 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.
On the eve of the 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 Erikson 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 fire on him from the Peter and Paul Fortress, in case the ministers refused to surrender him.
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.
Commander of the cruiser "Aurora" Evdokim Ognev
Our country is wide and boundless. How many cities, villages, farms in it ... And each has its own story. And this little story is a grain of the history of a great powerful state.
There is a small river in the Voronezh province, which makes many bends on its way. From the fact that it is winding, and its name is Kriusha. In the 30s of the XVIII century, the Cossack settlers formed a village on the banks of the river, which became known as Kriusha. Later, when a new one with the same name was formed near the village, the ancient settlement began to be called Old Kriusha, and the younger one - New.
Here, in 1887, Evdokim Pavlovich Ognev, the commandant of the cruiser Aurora, was born, who fired a historic shot that served as a signal for the storming of the Winter Palace in October 1917.
In Kriush itself, the search for materials about a fellow villager was organized by the librarian E.A. Artamonov. The old-timers remembered the Ognev family, their relatives. It turned out that two cousins of Evdokim Ognev live in Staraya Kriush. The eldest of them, Maria Fominichna Ovcharova, said that Evdokim wrote to his sister Pelageya Pavlovna all the time from the fleet and from the Don, where he fought. In 1918, two fighters from Ognev's detachment stopped at Pelageya Pavlovna, to whom the commandant gave the address of his sister.
Pavel Prokofievich (father of Evdokim Pavlovich), a baker by profession, often moved from place to place with his family in search of a better life. Now it is reliably known that the Ognevs after Staraya Kriushi lived on the Trety Log farm (now the Volgograd region), on the Popov farm, in the villages of Mikhailovskaya, Zotovskaya, Velikoknyazheskaya (now Proletarskaya, Rostov region).
Sister Evdokima, Maria Pavlovna, said that in childhood, the younger brother disappeared for days on end on the river, loved to arrange desperate "sea" battles with his peers on rafts, troughs, abandoned old boats. During one such “battle” on Manych, the elder brother Fedotka sprained his leg, and Evdokim carried him home for seven kilometers in his arms ...
In their free time from the watch, friends often retired somewhere on the forecastle or in the carpentry workshop and had intimate conversations. Everyone talked about their life, their native places. Evdokim Ognev’s turn came: “I listen to you, brothers, and I think: how similar our life is with sores. It seems that they peeped at her from a friend ... My dad, Pavel Prokofievich, was "lucky" all his life. The first wife soon died, leaving him a daughter, Pelageya. I took the second from the neighboring village of Novotroitskoye, Fedosya Zakharovna, my mother. Lived in need. Dad baked kalachi, and we sipped kvass. They traveled to farms and villages in the district, to Cossack villages, looking for work. The father did not get along with the owners, he was reputed to be a truth-seeker. Roaming around in strange corners - a family of eight mouths. I grew up, dad thought: “I’ll lie down with bones, and I’ll make the youngest, Evdokim, literate, I’ll bring people out.” Indeed, for four winters I went to the parochial "university". The father did not survive, he waved his hand: "It's not destiny, go, Evdokim, to day laborers." When I turned fifteen, I went for a better share in Velikoknyazheskaya. Uncle Alexei advised.
Ognev has been in military service since 1910. Initially, he was a sailor in the Baltic Fleet, and after graduating from the gunnery school in 1911, he was assigned to the cruiser Aurora.
From the memoirs of A.V. Belyshev, former First Commissar of the Aurora cruiser:
“On October 25, 1917, the Aurora approached the Vasilyevsky Bridge along the Neva and anchored. At dawn, thousands of Petrograd workers came to the embankment, welcoming the sailors. Never before had such large warships entered the city so far.
The forces of the revolution multiplied and strengthened. Detachments of Red Guards and soldiers went to the center of the city along the reduced bridge from Vasilyevsky Island.
By morning, the entire city and its most important strategic points, except for the Winter Palace, where the provisional government had taken refuge, were in the hands of the insurgent people. In the evening, a tugboat approached the cruiser. Secretary of the Military Revolutionary Committee V.A. arrived on the Aurora. Antonov-Ovseenko. He said that an ultimatum had been presented to the interim government - to surrender. The answer is expected before 9 o'clock. If the ultimatum is rejected, the revolutionary detachments will take the Winter Palace, where the ministers have taken refuge, by storm. Antonov-Ovseenko warned that in this case, fire would appear over the Peter and Paul Fortress. It will be a signal to the Aurora - to fire a blank shot at Zimny, announcing the start of an attack by detachments of Red Guards, sailors and soldiers.
Winter taken. Hood. V.A. Serov. 1954
The Aurors were to take part in the assault on the last stronghold of the old world. About fifty sailors under the command of sailor A.S. Nevolina went ashore and joined the free detachment of Baltic sailors. The decisive moment has come. At about 9 o'clock, the cruiser's crew raised a combat alert. Everyone took their places. The tension was rising. Shooting was heard from the shore, and the Peter and Paul Fortress did not make itself felt. At 35 minutes the tenth signal was still missing. And when the long-awaited fire flared up in the evening darkness, it was already 9:40.
Nasal, please! the team boomed.
Commander Yevdokim Ognev pulled the trigger of the six-inch gun. It was like a thunderclap tore the air above the city. Through the peals of a shot from the Palace Square, a “hurrah” was heard. Ours went on the assault.
In 1918, to fight the enemies of the revolution, Evdokim Pavlovich was sent at the head of a detachment to Ukraine, where he soon died in battle.
Memoirs of a participant in the events P. Kirichkov: “When the whites surrounded the carts, they were met with rare shots by a paramedic and a Red Army driver. All of them, together with the wounded, were hacked to death, and they tied me with reins, threw me to the bottom of the britzka and went to the Vesyoliy farm to the ataman. Krysin, a White Guard from Cossack Khomutets, was riding with two fellow villagers next to the cart in which I was lying. The traitor boasted of killing the commander. I remember his story from beginning to end.
Monument to Evdokim Ognev in the village of Staraya Kriusha, Voronezh Region
“... When the last cart left the Cossack Khomutets farm, three guns remained: Ognev, his orderly and a limping Cossack named Krysin from among those who joined the detachment in Cossack Khomutets. The shells ran out, the orderly led the horses out of the beam, and the three horsemen, under the whistle of White Guard bullets, began to retire into the steppe. While the whites realized that there was no one else in front of them, and they took the horses out of the shelter, the three horsemen continued to leave without hindrance. They were being pursued. The Cossacks fired at a gallop. One bullet hit Ognev. For some reason, Krysin began to lag behind. When the riders came up to the old Scythian mound, Krysin stopped his horse. He tore off the rifle from his shoulder and shot down the wounded Ognev. The orderly looked around, saw the commander falling, did not have time to understand anything - he was killed by a second shot. Krysin jumped off his horse, went up to Ognev, cautiously turned him over and began to take off his boots from the dead man ... "
Ognev was buried in a common grave on the Cossack Khomutets farm near Rostov-on-Don. He was also included by the Bolsheviks among the canonized heroes of October.
In his native village, the memory of the hero is still alive. A monument to Evdokim Pavlovich Ognev was erected in a rural park. And the school museum contains a huge amount of information about a fellow countryman: parchments with memories of participants in the events, portraits of Ognev and even a cartridge case from the Aurora.
There were several myths about this.
The myth of the "volley of Aurora" was born literally the day after the storming of the Winter Palace, the signal for which was a shot from the legendary cruiser. Such information began to appear in the local press. Subsequently, already in the Stalin years, the version that the Aurora fired at Zimny with real shells was actively replicated: this was written about it in the “Short Course on the History of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks”, the play “Aurora Volley” was staged at the Moscow Art Theater, according to which a film of the same name was released in the 1960s; in 1937, Mikhail Romm made the film "Lenin in October", where the audience's attention is also focused on this episode. The myth of the “volley” did not bypass literature either: Alexei Tolstoy in his “Walking Through the Torments” writes about the roof of the Winter Palace pierced by a shell.
It was all that was left of the once noisy and drunken hustle and bustle of the capital. The idle crowds left the squares and streets. The Winter Palace was empty, pierced through the roof by a shell from the Aurora. (Alexey Tolstoy. "Walking through the torments." Book 2)
On October 21, commissars of the Military Revolutionary Committee were sent by the Bolsheviks to all revolutionary units of the troops. All the days before the uprising in military units, in factories and factories, vigorous combat training was going on. Certain tasks were also received by combat ships - the cruiser "Aurora" and "Dawn of Freedom"<…>The revolutionary units of the troops, prepared for the uprising by the work of the Bolsheviks, faithfully carried out combat orders and fought side by side with the Red Guard. The navy did not lag behind the army. Kronstadt was a stronghold of the Bolshevik Party, where the authority of the Provisional Government had long since ceased to be recognized. Cruiser"Aurora" on October 25, with the thunder of his cannons aimed at the Winter Palace, he announced the beginning of a new era - the era of the Great Socialist Revolution. (A short course in the history of the CPSU (b))
The cruiser "Aurora" and the icebreaker "Krasin" in the dry dock named after P.I. Veleshchinsky Kronstadt Marine Plant. 25.09.2014 © Andrey Sheremetev / AndreySheremetev.ru
Reality
The first - and the main debunkers of the myth were the sailors themselves from the cruiser "Aurora". The day after the events described in the Pravda newspaper, an article appeared in which the sailors tried to prove that there had been no shelling of the Winter Palace on their part: if the cruiser had fired “for real”, not only the palace, but also surrounding areas, they argued. The text of the rebuttal was:
“To all honest citizens of the city of Petrograd from the crew of the cruiser Avrora, which expresses its sharp protest against the accusations thrown, especially the accusations that have not been verified, but throw a stain of shame on the cruiser crew. We declare that we have come not to destroy the Winter Palace, not to kill civilians, but to protect and, if necessary, die for freedom and revolution from counter-revolutionaries.
The press writes that the Aurora opened fire on the Winter Palace, but do the gentlemen reporters know that the cannon fire we opened would not have left stone unturned not only from the Winter Palace, but also from the streets adjacent to it? But does it really exist?
We appeal to you, workers and soldiers of Petrograd! Do not believe provocative rumors. Do not believe them that we are traitors and rioters, and check the rumors yourself. As for the shots from the cruiser, only one blank shot was fired from a 6-inch gun, indicating a signal for all ships stationed on the Neva, and calling them to vigilance and readiness. Please reprint all editions.
Chairman of the ship's committee
A. Belyshev
Tov. Chairman P. Andreev
Secretary /signature/”. ("Pravda", No. 170, October 27, 1917)
For many years, while official propaganda benefited from the myth of the power of revolutionary weapons, in which a single blank shot grew into a whole volley of military guns, no one remembered this note. Already during the Khrushchev "thaw" this text appeared in the journal "New World", in the article by V. Cardin "Legends and Facts" (1966, No. 2, p. 237). However, the Pravda newspaper responded not at all friendly to the quotation of itself 50 years ago, publishing in March 1967 a message on behalf of the Secretariat of the Writers' Union of the SSR, warning Soviet people against reading articles "imbued with false tendencies to unjustified revision and belittling of revolutionary and heroic traditions of the Soviet people. The article did not leave indifferent the top leadership of the country. In one of his speeches to the Politburo, L.I. Brezhnev was indignant: “After all, some of our writers (and they are published) agree that there was supposedly no Aurora salvo, that it was supposedly a blank shot, etc., that there were no 28 Panfilov’s, that there were fewer of them, this fact was almost invented that there was no Klochko and there was no his call that "Moscow is behind us and we have nowhere to retreat ...".
Many years later, already in perestroika, the article “imbued with a false trend” was reprinted in the Ogonyok magazine.
The military also refutes the myth about the shelling of Zimny from a cruiser: the ship, which really won military glory by participating in the Russo-Japanese and World War I, was undergoing major repairs since 1916, which means that all the ammunition from it by the time of the October events should have been there for a long time removed - in accordance with the instructions in force.
Another myth - the shot of the Aurora is a signal for reconciling the time of the revolutionary squadron sounded at 21.00 on October 25, 1917. (" ... No one set the task of revolutionary sailors to give a signal for the assault. They simply gave a military signal, which was given regularly, so that time verification was carried out on all ships .... Now this practice exists in armies and navies all over the world. ... I think that it is possible to state with a high degree of accuracy that the shot thundered exactly at 21.00. ...”)
Let's turn to theory and history:
An accurate knowledge of the time on the high seas is necessary for ships to reliably determine the location (especially longitude). A lot of effort was put by scientists, sailors, watchmakers of the world to achieve the necessary accuracy and develop error-free methods. The British Parliament even offered a generous bonus for the successful solution of this problem. For example, at the equator, a time error of only 1 minute leads to an inaccuracy in determining the location on the Earth's surface by almost 30 km. All this was widely known in 1917 (let's look at the Encyclopedic Dictionary of F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron). The main way to determine the place out of sight of the coast then was astronomical.
Ships compare chronometers (in those years with coastal ones) immediately before going out to sea, under favorable hydrometeorological conditions, using astronomical bodies and phenomena with accurate knowledge of longitude. Yes, and it is advisable to check the time by such a signal only far from the coast in a separate voyage of a squadron of ships when a large error is found in the calculation of the place or a serious error in the readings of the chronometers on one of the ships. I think it is clear that this does not apply to the ships stationed on the Neva.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a “unit time system” already existed in Petrograd - at the suggestion of D.I. Mendeleev, a cable was laid from the “normal”, i.e. reference, clock of the Main Chamber of Measures and Weights to the General Staff, under the arch of which a clock is installed that never runs and does not lag behind with the inscription on the dial: “Correct time”. This inscription can be read even today - go under the arch to the Winter Palace or Nevsky Prospekt.
As you know, the tradition of a midday shot for civilian needs in St. Petersburg was firmly established on February 6, 1865. On this day, at exactly noon, a 60-pound signal gun was fired from the Admiralty building, while the gun fired on a cable signal directly from the Pulkovo Observatory. In 1872, in connection with the construction of the Admiralty courtyard with houses, the Naval Ministry proposed moving the signal gun to the Peter and Paul Fortress. On September 24, 1873, a midday shot was fired for the first time from the bastion of the fortress.
Since 1856, the Nautical Department has been supplying all ships of the Navy with the British astronomical nautical yearbook Nautical Almanac (published since 1766), from which tables of lunar distances were removed in 1907 to determine longitude on the high seas (instructions for their calculation are printed until 1924) .Only in 1930, our country began to publish its own astronomical yearbook.
It is interesting to note that until January 1, 1925, the astronomical day began at noon, and the time system based on the Greenwich meridian in the RSFSR was switched from February 8, 1919. And although the new style of chronology was introduced by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of January 26, 1918, double dates were already in the headlines of many newspapers in 1917.
The production of marine clocks (not chronometers - they are foreign) is organized in the Workshop of Nautical Instruments of the Main Hydrographic Department. Russian nautical instruments are awarded diplomas at international exhibitions in 1907 (Bordeaux) and 1912 (St. Petersburg).
Considering that the speed of sound was measured by the Milan Academy of Sciences back in the 17th century, it is clear that the accuracy of a signal shot from a cannon, with the departure of the century of sails in the middle of the 19th century, the development of watchmaking could only satisfy the control of time for everyday civilian needs. For example, on January 9, 1917, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, the actions of the German auxiliary cruiser (sailing ship!) Seeadler during the capture of the steamer Gladys Roil were initially perceived as an ancient, grandfather's custom of checking the chronometer with a mortar shot, and answered with a flag. By the end of the 19th century, the most common system in the ports of the world was the time signaling system with electrically driven signal balloons. The transmission of time signals by telegraph was also widely developed, especially with the advent of Yuz's direct-printing devices (remember the term "yuzogram"?).
In 1912 - 1913, at the initiative of France, 2 international conferences were held on the use of radio for transmitting accurate time signals (ONOGO system). The first chairman of the international commission was Academician O.A. Backlund (1846-1916) - Director of the Pulkovo Observatory. In 1914, the first time signal transmission experiment was also carried out in St. Petersburg (regular broadcasting began on December 1, 1920, although it did not become particularly known to the fleet).
Since 1910, radio stations in Germany, England and France have already been transmitting time signals, since 1912 they have been transmitted according to the venier principle, which made it possible to determine clock errors with an accuracy of 0.01 seconds, since 1913 at least 9 radio stations in the world have transmitted such signals.
The most famous document of 1720 is “The Book of the Charter of the Sea. About everything related to good management when the fleet was at sea ”signals were introduced to control ships during joint navigation. Yes, both flags and cannon shots, drumming, ship bells, musket shots were used to serve them. Based on the experience of the combat operations of the fleet in the Mediterranean Sea in 1797, "Complete signals to be produced in the fleets of His Imperial Majesty" are compiled. In 1814 A.N. Butakov compiled a complete dictionary of semaphore signals. After the actual creation by Vice Admiral G.I. Butakov of the tactics of the actions of steam ships in 1868 published the Book of Evolutionary Signals and the Code of Naval Signals. They were based on flag signals. For night signaling, even before the creation of Morse code, flashlights were used. The revised Code of Signals of 1890 was rightly criticized by Vice Admiral S.O. Makarov. With the advent of electricity on ships, the signal light of the Ratier type became famous. When darkening the ships, klotik and wake lights were used to control the formations. Various figures raised on the halyards, shields with signs were also used. Signaling and communications were taken seriously. They spied on deciphering the signals.
From the death of ships in the Tsushima battle, the command of the Russian fleet concluded that in addition to the flag and light signals of the searchlight, it is necessary to have another type of signaling that would not depend on the presence or absence of superstructures and masts. These are flares. The Veri pistol (according to another transcription of Baer) is still in service with the Navy (more than 100 years!). They were imported from abroad at the beginning of the century, they were expensive, and therefore many domestic analogues were created. The system of captain 2nd rank Zhukov (1908) was especially famous, although it was intended mainly for supplying combat and evolutionary signals, for everyday signals, which include time signals, in his opinion, signaling with flags and lanterns was enough. The question is, was the famous red fire from the Peter and Paul Fortress a signal rocket?
As you can see, the need for such an archaic method of checking the chronometers of quite modern, well-equipped warships (well, not resembling the Golden Doe by Francis Drake, although it was a troubled time in the country), is like a cannon shot, and even in the middle of Petrograd at the beginning of the 20th century clearly missing, as it is now. For the needs of time control on the ship itself, flasks were beaten off by a watch.
All the more surprising would be the delivery of such a regular signal by a rather expensive charge of artillery of the main caliber. After the 37-mm Hotchkiss guns were dismantled from the Aurora, the 76.2-mm Lender anti-aircraft guns would most likely be used as signal (there is also a salute term). From a blank volley of a 152-mm gun from the Peter and Paul Fortress, the glass around the city is still shaking, and in the Hermitage, before the gun turned towards Vasilyevsky Island, an alarm went off - a lot of glass would have flown on the Angliskaya Embankment - obviously not that for a regular signal. An example is November 20, 1992, when the midday shot was fired for the only time in the courtyard of the Naryshkin bastion.
Back to Aurora:
The ship, under the command of Lieutenant N. A. Erickson, on October 22, 1917, after the completion of repairs at the Franco-Russian Plant, was prepared to go to sea to test cars (and not to withdraw from Petrograd for counter-revolutionary purposes, as the Bolsheviks presented it ) and even took on board part of the ammunition - there is a war in the Baltic. There are quite accurate chronometers on board, like on most ships of that time, British-made (very protected in importance and tradition). The navigator has the “Nautical Almanac” with the Guide to the use of the English nautical calendar and, of course, other nautical instruments.
Chief of the watch - warrant officer L. A. Demin (1897-1973), in the future rear admiral, doctor of geographical sciences, who prepared more than 100 nautical charts and sailing directions, 16 years (from 1957 to 1973) headed the Leningrad branch of the All-Union Astronomical and Geodetic society - while young, but will not forget to start such chronometers ?!
The situation with the gun sights is a little unclear - there is a version that they were removed and locked somewhere in the cabin. But, think about whether someone would then stand on ceremony with a locked cabin. The cruiser commanders do not remember this.
The bright searchlights of the Mangin system are also in good order; a similar signal could have been given by them.
Despite the statements of S.N. Poltorak, tasks for certain actions in preparation for the assault on the Winter Palace "Aurora" were nevertheless set. These are the orders of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies No. 1219 dated 10/24/17 on the transfer of the ship to Combat Readiness and No. 1253 of 10/24/17 on the task of restoring traffic on the Nikolaevsky Bridge. By order No. 1125, Alexander Viktorovich Belyshev was appointed commissar of the ship, even with the time indicated 12 hours 20 minutes. And by a telegram from Tsentrobalt dated 10/24/17, Aurora was subordinated to the Military Revolutionary Committee, this document was registered on 10/27/17 under No. 5446 at the Main Naval Headquarters (it was received by the officer on duty, Ensign Lesgaft). They counted on the pressure of the cruiser's guns, even sent checks. Most of the team is on the side of the VRC.
Having carried out measurements of the unfamiliar Neva fairway "Aurora" at 3 hours 30 minutes. On October 25, 2017, she anchored at the Nikolaevsky Bridge opposite the Rumyantsevs' mansion (44 Angliyskaya Embankment) and complied with the order to ensure traffic on the bridge.
By 19 o'clock, having completed the transition from Gelsinfors (Helsinki) with a call to Kronstadt, the combat-ready destroyers "Zabiyaka" and "Samson", a little earlier the patrol ship "Yastreb" and other ships entered the Neva.
It would be very naive to believe that such a transition was made by ships without reliable knowledge of time (and, as a result, longitude) even in the presence of visual landmarks, and they did not correct it in the port of Kotlin Island, equipped with everything necessary for this, but preferred to “ask again”, according to version of S.N. Poltorak, at the Aurora. The mine warfare that was widely waged in the Baltic, you know, is a dangerous thing and you have to go along a strictly checked fairway, and the forts of Kronstadt are ready.
Radio stations (including medium-wave tone) of the cruiser and other ships are also in perfect order. The radiograms of the listed ships can be found in the Central State Administration of the Navy, the case numbers are even published in the open press.
Between the ships, the Peter and Paul Fortress, in which uniform confusion is going on with guns and artillerymen, which G.I. Blagonravov can hardly cope with (by calling artillery sailors from the training ground), and surrounded by the Winter Palace on a boat (from the Aurora?) V. BUT. Antonov-Ovseenko. (this is also known from the memoirs of L.D. Trotsky).
Consider the second part of the assumption - the Aurora shot sounded exactly at 21.00. The most frequently called are 21.40, 21.45. Eyewitnesses of the events (former members of the Provisional Government, Aurors, deputies) and reporters of Petrograd newspapers of those years, different in political preferences, indicate the time quite accurately and it does not differ too much.
Comparing and analyzing their memoirs, newspaper publications (and this is a topic for a separate and most serious article), archival documents, one can be convinced that the former Aurora commissioner A.V. Belyshev calls 21.40 quite right. Only now it all began with a grenade explosion in the palace, then the troops defending the Winter Palace began firing.
A volley of "Aurora" was required, only he had a completely different
meaning -" only one blank shot from a 6-inch gun was fired, indicating a signal for all ships standing on the Neva, and calling them to vigilance and readiness.” This is from the text of the letter from the crew of the Aurora cruiser - I am attaching it to the article. I am very surprised that it has not been published in full for a long time. What made the team write this letter becomes clear from other publications of those days. And the surname to this day of the unknown secretary of the cruiser's sudkom is Miss (he is an Estonian by nationality).
I understand that this is how the Aurora shot is historically correct and should be called.
And the shot was fired (by gunner E.P. Ognev from the team of A.V. Belyshev) according to a note sent to the Aurora by Antonov-Ovseenko or Blagonravov. Fire was also fired from destroyers, even the signal cannon of the Peter and Paul Fortress fired. There were destructions of the Winter Palace and buildings of the city.
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.
sources
http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=413187&cid=7
http://actualhistory.ru/myth-avrora-cruiser - here is the transcript of the footnotes
InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -The ship was intended to perform the functions of a reconnaissance cruiser and combat enemy merchant shipping at a short distance from the bases, as well as to support battleships in squadron combat. In fact, he could not solve any of these tasks due to insufficient (for the 1900s) cruising range for a cruiser, low speed, weak armament and protection, therefore, from 1908, he served as a training cruiser.
Structurally, it belonged to the type of armored cruisers, tactically - to trade fighter cruisers.
Launching
Built according to the shipbuilding program of 1895.
The Irony of History - the cruiser, which was considered the harbinger of the revolution, the gravedigger of the Russian Empire and the Imperial family, was solemnly launched on May 11 (24), 1900 on the personal command of the Emperor of All Russia Nicholas II, in the presence of two empresses (the dowager and the tsar's wife) and numerous members Imperial family.
On September 25 (November 8), 1903, the Aurora left Kronstadt for the Far East, after calling at Portland in early October, arrived in the Mediterranean Sea and on October 25 arrived at the port of Spezia (Italy), where she joined the rear admiral's detachment at sea A. A. Virenius (EDB "Oslyabya", 3 cruisers, 9 destroyers, 3 ships DF), following to the Far East to strengthen the Port Arthur squadron. She sailed along the route: Bizerte (Tunisia, France) - Piraeus - the port of Suez - Djibouti. During a stay in Djibouti (French Somalia) in connection with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War (!) The entire detachment was recalled to the Baltic on February 2, 1904.
In preparation for the new campaign, the cruiser received three machine guns of the Maxim system, 25-mm armored shields for the main caliber guns and a new Telefunken radio station with a communication range of up to 100 miles.
Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905
On April 17, 1904, the ship was listed with the 2nd Squadron of the Pacific Fleet. On August 29, as part of this squadron under the command of Vice Admiral Z. P. Rozhestvensky, he left Kronstadt for the Pacific Ocean to the theater of operations of the Russo-Japanese War. I walked along the route Revel (30.08-28.09) - Libava (2.10) - Skagen (7.10). Then he followed as part of the 4th detachment under the command of Rear Admiral O. A. Enkvist. During the "Hull Incident" ca. 1:00 10/10/1904 was on the beam of the Russian detachment, which fired at ships mistaken for Japanese destroyers. At the same time, several shells hit the cruiser, from which the ship's priest Father Anastasius was mortally wounded and one gunnery was slightly wounded. Then he followed with a detachment along the route Tangier (Sultanate of Morocco, 16-23.10) - Dakar (10-30-3.11) - Gabun (13-18.11) - Great Fish Bay (Portuguese West Africa, 23-24.11) - Angra Pekwena (German Southwest Africa, 28.11-4.12) - Nossi-be bay on about. Madagascar (colony of France, 12/16/1904-3/3/1905). All detachments of the squadron gathered again in Madagascar, which then proceeded through the Malacca Strait to Kamrang Bay (French Annam protectorate, 03-13.04) - Van Fong Bay (French Annam, 13-26.04), where a squadron of counter- Admiral N. I. Nebogatov, - Kua Be Bay (26.04). On May 1, 1905, the cruiser, as part of the joint squadron, left Kua Be Bay to sail to Vladivostok by the Korean Strait.
World War I
In the winter of 1914-1915. underwent modernization, the number of 152-mm guns was increased to 14 by dismantling all 75-mm anti-mine caliber guns. The cruiser received four 75-mm and one 40-mm "air cannon" (anti-aircraft guns). In the campaign of 1915, the cruiser was on patrol to the west of the central mine and artillery position in the Baltic, guarding minesweeping operations, and made trips to study hidden skerry fairways in Finland.
Since May 1916 assigned to the 6th maneuver group (armored cruiser "Gromoboy", cruiser "Aurora" and "Diana"). On August 1 and 2, he conducted training firing at the firing range near Heinland Island to find out the possibility of destroying coastal wire obstacles with naval artillery fire during the planned landing operation. The results were disappointing - out of 209 6-inch shells, three hit the wire and one more hit the trench. After dredging was completed on the Moonsund Canal, on August 14, 1916, the cruiser was transferred by this canal to the Gulf of Riga and became part of the Naval Defense Forces of the Gulf of Riga; based at Kuyvast.
In November 1916, the ship was sent for overhaul to Petrograd, to the Franco-Russian plant. During the winter of 1916-1917, steam engines were overhauled, new steam boilers of the Belleville-Dolgolenko system were installed. The artillery of the main caliber was modernized with an increase in the firing range from 53 to 67 cab. 6 76.2-mm anti-aircraft guns of the F.F. Lender system were installed (at the expense of all previous "air guns"), a new radio station and a sound underwater communication device were mounted.
Revolutions of 1917
The cruiser stationed in Petrograd was at the center of the events of two revolutions in the year. Being in close contact with the workers of the plant, the sailors of the cruiser "Aurora" were involved in revolutionary agitation. This was facilitated by the general situation in Russia, which the war brought to the brink of disaster. The relationship between the officers and the crew on the cruiser escalated to the limit. On February 27 (March 12), the crew demanded that the commander release three imprisoned agitators from custody. During the dispersal of the rally that followed, the cruiser commander captain 1st rank M.I. Nikolsky and senior officer P.P. Ogranovich opened fire on the team with pistols; were injured. When on February 28 (March 13), 1917, it became known on the cruiser that the February bourgeois-democratic revolution had taken place, the sailors, together with the workers, raised a red flag on the ship. The ship's commander was killed, the senior officer was wounded, most of the crew went ashore and joined the uprising.
A ship's committee was elected to exercise the democratic rights of the sailors on the Aurora. According to the results of a secret ballot on March 3 (26), on the question of the form of government in Russia, it was unanimously decided that such a form is a democratic republic. During the spring-summer-autumn of 1917, the political situation on the ship was characterized by a gradual loss of confidence in the Provisional Government of Russia, both on the part of sailors and officers. The influence of the Bolshevik Party on the ship grew. After the bloody events of February 27-28 (March 13-14), relations between the ship's committee and the officers became relatively normal: the officers did not go against the team in terms of political opinions, and the ship's committee did not obstruct the officers in terms of the order of service, discipline and ship work.
When in October 1917 the political situation in the country escalated again and the conflict between the Provisional Government and the Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies reached a dead end, most of the team was on the side of the RSDLP (b). By decision of the Central Committee of the Baltic Fleet, the already practically repaired Aurora was left in Petrograd and subordinated to the Petrograd Soviet. The sailors of the cruiser took part in the October armed uprising in Petrograd on October 25 (November 7), 1917: on the night of October 25, 1917, on the orders of the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, the Aurora team captured and brought down the Nikolaevsky bridge in Petrograd, which connected Vasilyevsky Island with the center cities. 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, where the Provisional Government was located.
On November 28 (December 11), 1917, the Aurora returned to the 2nd cruiser brigade in Sveaborg after repairs. 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. Only 40 people remained on the ship, necessary for current work and protection. In 1918, a civil war broke out in Russia. In the summer of 1918, the cruiser, which could no longer be maintained in a state of combat readiness, was transferred to Kronstadt and put into reserve, like most of the large ships of the fleet. The 152-mm Aurora guns were removed and sent to Astrakhan to arm the floating batteries. Most of the sailors of the cruiser went partly to the fronts of the civil war, partly just to go home. In 1922, the ship was transferred to the Kronstadt port for long-term storage (mothballed).
Interwar period and the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945
Cruiser tank (bow) gun plate
When the active restoration of the Russian Naval Forces began in 1922, it was decided to restore the Aurora as a training ship, not least due to the fact that she had already undergone a major overhaul four years ago. After refurbishment and staffing in 1922-1924, the Aurora cruiser became part of the Baltic Sea Naval Forces as a training ship. The ship now had 10x1 - new 130-mm guns and 2x1 - 76.2-mm anti-aircraft guns. In 1924-1930, the ship, together with the training ship "Komsomolets", made a number of training voyages with cadets of higher naval schools, visited the ports of Bergen and Trondheim (Norway, 1924,1925 and 1930), Murmansk and Arkhangelsk (USSR, 1924 and 1925) , Gothenburg (Sweden, 1925), Kiel (Germany, 1926), Copenhagen (1928), Swinemünde (Germany, 1929), Oslo (1930). The merit of "Aurora" in the training of competent specialists for the fleet of the young Soviet state was enormous. On the 10th anniversary of the Revolution, the training cruiser was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. In 1933, the ship was surveyed and it was concluded that a second major overhaul was necessary. Since 1933 at the shipyard named after. A. Marty repair work was carried out in Leningrad, but due to the high workload of this plant with the construction of new ships in 1935, the repair was suspended and the ship began to serve as a non-self-propelled training base for first-year cadets of naval schools. During the winter, the cruiser served as a floating base for submarines. It was planned to decommission the ship.
memorial ship
Even before the end of the war, in 1944, it was decided to restore the cruiser as a monument to the active participation of sailors in the 1917 Revolution. The Aurora was raised in 1944 and underwent a major overhaul in 1945-1947, during which the appearance of the ship was brought closer to its appearance in 1917. 152 mm Kane guns were installed, the same type as those that were in 1917 on the ship, but, unfortunately, guns were found in the arsenals only on land machines. Ship shields for them were made according to the drawings of veteran Aurors. The underwater part of the hull was made waterproof using a concrete "shirt" worn on the inner surface of the ship's skin. The internal premises were converted for the life and service of cadets and teachers. The power plant was removed, with the exception of two boilers for heating and a medium steam engine left as a teaching aid. The superstructures were restored, including the complete replacement of the chimneys, badly damaged during the war. As a result, the ship became a full-fledged training base for students of the Nakhimov School, against the building of which on the Bolshaya Nevka River in Leningrad, the ship solemnly took its place on November 17, 1947. Future officers of the Navy received primary naval skills on the Aurora: they participated in ship work, served as ship outfits.
Under Soviet rule, the Aurora cruiser became a training cruiser and was revered as one of the symbols of the revolution. The fate of this cruiser is told by the children's cartoon of the same name (1976), the song from which “What are you dreaming about, cruiser Aurora?” gained popularity and became strongly associated with the ship. During the repair, in 1945-46, the cruiser participated in the filming of the movie "Cruiser Varyag", playing the role of "Varyag".
The museum on the ship began to be created in 1950 by the personnel, Auror veterans, and enthusiasts. In 1956, it was decided to give the ship museum the status of a branch of the Central Naval Museum. Since 1961, in connection with the construction of a new residential building for the NVMU, Aurora ceased to be an educational base, and the former quarters of the students of the school were transferred to the museum, the staff of which was increased to 5 people. For ordinary visitors, the upper deck and forecastle with a 152-mm gun, as well as the premises of the ship's museum, were open. The rest of the ship's quarters were inaccessible. Simultaneously with the museum, a team of 50 sailors and officers was left on the ship (and remains to this day) to guard the ship and maintain the mechanisms, so the cruiser itself and the museum on the cruiser are different, albeit friendly, organizations. Current repairs of the ship were carried out in 1957-1958 and 1966-1968. In 1968, the Aurora cruiser was awarded the Order of the October Revolution.
In the late 1980s, the ship's hull was in dire need of a major overhaul. In 1984-1987, repair and restoration work and re-equipment were carried out on the cruiser. The work was carried out at the Leningrad Shipbuilding Plant. A. A. Zhdanov according to the project of the Northern Design Bureau. The work was as follows:
The last exit of the cruiser "Aurora", launched in 1900, to the Neva
The underwater part of the ship's hull (1.2 m above the waterline) was considered unrepairable; it was cut off and handed over to the butcher. The cut off lower part was towed to the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland to the unfinished naval base Ruchi, flooded near the coast, where it is currently being pulled apart for metal. Instead, a new welded underwater part (dummy) was made. The wooden and copper cladding was not recreated. Screws are missing.
- The surface part was divided into four sections, which were installed on the new underwater part. In the engine room of the right and left machines, a boiler room was made and models of two boilers of the Belleville-Dolgolenko system were placed there. The aft main machine was put in order and installed in its place. The carapace deck was made anew. Most of the old armor plates were returned to it (except for the lower belt).
- The superstructures were installed in their places and mostly externally decorated to look like the ship as it was in 1917. The pipes and masts were made from scratch, since the old ones were also "remake". It was decided to leave the guns on coastal mounts.
- Almost all of the interior of the ship has been redesigned. On the battery deck there is a museum, a compartment for museum 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 crew's new living quarters. All accommodation units are equipped according to the habitability requirements of a modern navy. In two aft engine rooms, an engine and boiler room was organized with auxiliary mechanisms and additionally placed combat steam dynamos. The premises of the boiler departments are occupied by modern PES (energy and survivability post), a power plant, air conditioners, hot water boilers for domestic needs, diesel generators, a drainage station, a fire extinguishing system and other equipment. The tiller compartment, the compartment of the refrigerator car and the central post remained unredesigned.
After repair and restoration work, on August 16, 1987, the Aurora was returned to its place of parking - at the Nakhimov VMU. At present, in addition to scientific staff, a team of 6 officers, 12 midshipmen and 42 sailors is serving on the ship.
cruiser commanders
cruiser commanders
- Cap. 1st rank rank A. A. Melnitsky (November 1897 - October 1898),
- cap. 1st rank P.P. Molas (October-November 1878, November 1898 - January 1900),
- VRID commander cap. 1st rank A.P. Kitkin (January-June 1900),
- cap. 1st rank N.K. Jenish (June-December 1900),
- cap. 1st rank I. V. Sukhotin (January 1901 - July 1904),
- cap. 1st rank E. R. Egoriev (July 1904 - 05/14/1905, died),
- VRID commander cap. 2nd rank A.K. Nebolsin (May 14 - September 1905),
- cap. 1st rank V. L. Barshch (September 1905 - May 1908),
- cap. 1st rank Baron V.N. Ferzen (May 1908 - January 1909),
- cap. 1st rank P.N. Leskov (January 1909 - December 1912),
- cap. 1st rank L. D. Opatsky (August-December 1912),
- cap. 1st rank D. A. Sveshnikov (December 1912 - April 1913),
- cap. 1st rank V. A. Kartsev (April 1913 - July 1914),
- cap. 1st rank G. I. Butakov (July 1914 - February 1916),
- cap. 1st rank M.I. Nikolsky (February 1916 - 02/28/1917, killed by sailors),
- senior lieutenant N.K. Nikonov (elected, March-August 1917),
- Lieutenant N. A. Erickson (elected, September 1917 - July 1918),
- VRID commander of the RKKF M. N. Zubov (since July 1918),
- commander of the RKKF L. A. Polenov (November 1922 - January 1928),
- commander of the RKKF A.F. Leer (January 1928 - September 1930),
- commander of the RKKF G. I. Levchenko (September 1930 - June 1931),
- commander of the RKKF A.P. Alexandrov (June-December 1931),
- VRID commander of the RKKF K. Yu. Andreus (December 1931 - March 1932),
- commander of the RKKF A. A. Kuznetsov (March 1932 - October 1934),
- cap. 2 ranks V. E. Emme (October 1934 - January 1938),
- cap. 2nd rank G. N. Arseniev (January-September 1938),
- cap. 2nd rank F. M. Yakovlev (September 1938 - August 1940),
- cap. 3rd rank G. A. Gladky (August 1940 - March 1941),
- cap. 3rd rank I. A. Sakov (March-September 1941),
- Senior Lieutenant P. S. Grishin (October 1941 - July 1943),
- cap. 2nd rank P. A. Doronin (July 1943 - August 1948),
- cap. 1st rank F. M. Yakovlev (August 1948 - January 1950),
- cap. 2nd rank V. F. Shinkarenko (January 1950 - February 1952),
- cap. 2nd rank I. I. Popadko (February 1952 - September 1953),
- cap. 2nd rank N. P. Epikhin (September 1953 - August 1959),
- cap. 1st rank I. M. Goylov (September 1959 - July 1961),
- cap. 2 ranks K. S. Nikitin (July 1961 - May 1964),
- cap. 1st rank Yu. I. Fedorov (May 1964 - May 1985),
- cap. 2nd rank A. A. Yudin (May 1985 - November 1989),
- cap. 1st rank A. V. Bazhanov (since November 1989).
historical images
|
Cruiser bow gun |
Cruiser scheme |
- The cruiser Aurora is depicted on the Order of the October Revolution, which he himself was awarded (in 1967).
- Due to the fact that most of the sailors were natives of the Vyatka province, the Aurora banner was transferred to the city of Kirov (Vyatka) for eternal storage and is now in the Diorama Museum.
- When shooting the film "Cruiser Varyag", another pipe was fixed on the "Aurora".
Useful information
- The address: 197046, St. Petersburg, Petrovskaya emb., cruiser "Aurora"; tel. 230-8440
- Directions: Art. m. "Gorkovskaya", tram. 2, 6, 30, 63
- Working mode: Daily from 10.30 to 16.00, except Monday and Friday
- Excursions: admission to the cruiser is free; thematic excursions to the underwater part of the hull and the engine and boiler room are paid separately.
Notes
Literature
- Materials of the Central Naval Museum.
- "Aurora". - TSB. Ed. 2nd, vol. 41, pp. 117-118.
- "Aurora": album - L .: Sov. artist, 1967.
- Ammon G. A., Berezhnoy S. S. Heroic ships of the Russian and Soviet navies. - M.: Military Publishing House, 1981. S. 57.
- Andreev V. Revolutionary keep step. - M., 1973. S.168-177.
- Aseev N. Earth and people. - M.: 1961. S. 203.
- Badeev A."Aurora" .- In the book: Father's house: collection. - M.: "Mol. guard", 1978.
- Baltic Fleet. Historical essay. - M., Military publishing house, 1960.
- Bartev G.P. Baltic dawns. - Yaroslavl: Upper Volga book. publishing house, 1987.
- Bartev G.P. and others. Cruiser "Aurora": a guide to the museum. - L .: Lenizdat, 1983.
- Bartev G. P., Myasnikov V. A. Pages of the chronicle of "Aurora": Documentary essay. - Yaroslavl: Upper Volga book. publishing house, 1975.
- Belkin S.I. Stories about famous ships. - L .: Shipbuilding, 1979.
- Belyshev A. Baltic Glory. - Kaliningrad, 1959. S. 41-46.
- Belyshev A. How it was (Memoirs of the first commissioner of the cruiser "Aurora"). - In the book: Ships-heroes. - M., 1976. S. 106-107.
- Berezov P. Volley from the Aurora. - M.: Politizdat, 1967.
- Burkovsky B. V., Kuleshov I. M. Cruiser "Aurora": a guide to the museum. - L., Lenizdat. 1967.
- Burkovsky B. V. and others. Cruiser "Aurora": a guide to the museum. - L .: Lenizdat, 1979.
- Burov A.V. Blockade day after day. - L., 1979. S. 55, 63, 67, 388.
- Burov V. N., Yukhnin V. E. Cruiser "Aurora": a monument of domestic shipbuilding. - L .: Lenizdat, 1987.
- Great October. Collection of documents. - M.: 1961. S. 52, 53, 327, 340, 351, 352.
- Godunov M. N. Cruiser "Aurora": a guide to the museum. - L .: Lenizdat, 1988.
- Grishchinsky K.K. Heroes are with us. - L .: Lenizdat, 1982. S. 70-84.
- Dubinkin V. E. Commander from the cruiser "Aurora": A documentary story. Voronezh book publishing house, 1936.
- Kozlov I. A., Shlomin V. S. Northern Fleet. - M., 1966. S. 78, 83.
- Krestyaninov V. Ya. Battle of Tsushima May 14 - 15, 1905 - St. Petersburg: "Galya Print", 1998. - ISBN 5-8172-0002-3.
- Letov B. Hero ships. - M.-L.: Detgiz, 1950.
- Maksimikhin I. A. Legendary ship. - M .: "Youth Guard", 1977.
- Melnikov R. M. Ships-monuments // “Man. Sea. Technique". - L .: Shipbuilding, 1987. Ss. 301-321.
- Moiseev. I.I. List of ships of the Russian steam and armored fleet (from 1861 to 1917). - M .: Military Publishing House, 1948. S. 76.
- Nevolin A.S. Aurors. - M.: Military Publishing, 1987.
- Polenov L. L. Cruiser Aurora". L.: Shipbuilding, 1987.
- Polenov L. L."Aurora": the secrets of a hundred years of history. - St. Petersburg: "Nordmed-Izdat", 1997. - (Events, ships, people).
- Pronin M.P. Legendary cruiser. L.: Lenizdat, 1957.
- Pacific Fleet. - M.: Military Publishing House, 1966. S. 59, 62, 63, 134, 270.
- Chernov B. M. The fate of the Aurora is high. - M.: Politich. lit., 1983.
- Kharchenko V.I. Flasks are broken on the Aurora. - M.: Ed. DOSAAF, 1967.
- Kholodniak A."Aurora". - L., 1925.
- Yunga E. S. Cruiser Aurora". - M.: Military Publishing, 1949.
Cruiser in art
Literature- Nikolay Cherkashin. Torpedo for "Aurora"
- Michael Weller. Zero hours
- Soviet cartoon "Aurora" with the song "What are you dreaming about, cruiser Aurora ..."
- Lenin in October