On November 17, 1948, the cruiser Aurora was placed in “eternal mooring” at the quay wall of the Bolshaya Nevka. Since then, the legendary ship has become one of the main symbols of St. Petersburg, and the history of its service is covered in myths and legends.

The Russian naval commander, Admiral Z.P. Rozhestvensky loved a non-standard approach to standard processes. Among the admiral’s favorite quirks was the habit, which amused the sailors, of arbitrarily giving out “nicknames” to the warships under his command. Thus, the battleship “Sisoy the Great” became “Invalid Shelter”, the yacht “Svetlana” - “Maid”, the cruiser “Admiral Nakhimov” was called “Idiot”, and “Aurora” was awarded the title “Prostitute Podzabornaya”.
We are not responsible for Rozhdestvensky, but if only he knew what kind of ship he called it!

The emergence of a legend

Despite the patriotic role of the ship in the history of the country, there is an opinion that the famous cruiser was built abroad. In fact, the miracle of shipbuilding arose in the same place where it ended its glorious journey - in St. Petersburg. The development of the project began back in 1895, but only in July 1897 was a contract signed with the Society of Franco-Russian Factories for the manufacture of machines, boilers and all mechanisms listed in the specification. Such a late date for reaching an agreement was due to the reluctance of management to share drawings with the Baltic Plant, and over the next six years, the Admiralty Izhora and Aleksandrovsky Iron Foundries, the Ya. S. Pullman Plant, the Obukhovsky, Metallic Plant and the Motovilikha Cannon Plants worked on the creation of the Aurora. Perm. In total, four ship builders, officers of the Corps of Naval Engineers, were directly supervised in the construction of the cruiser from September 1896 until the end of sea trials, that is, almost eight years. Unfortunately, the author of the cruiser project is still unknown - different sources name two names: K.M. Tokarevsky and De Grofe, and officially the construction was carried out at the New Admiralty plant, under the leadership of the society of Franco-Russian factories.

Battle glory

To many contemporaries, the Aurora is known only for the ambiguous fact of its naval biography, as the ship whose guns gave the signal for the assault on the Winter Palace. But the cruiser participated in no less than four wars and two revolutions. Emperor Nicholas II himself, after the Battle of Tsushima, telegraphed to the crew: “I heartily thank you, the commanders, officers and crew of the cruisers Oleg, Aurora and Pearl for their unrequited, honest service in a difficult battle. May the consciousness of a sacredly fulfilled duty console you all.” "Nicholas the Second". In 1968, by Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the cruiser "Aurora" for the outstanding services of the Aurora sailors in the Great October Socialist Revolution and the defense of its gains, fruitful work in promoting military and revolutionary traditions and in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces was awarded the Order October Revolution, and during the harsh years of the Great Patriotic War, the sailors of the Aurora took an active part in the heroic defense of Leningrad on the Duderhof Heights, as one of the paintings exhibited in the museum on the Aurora tells.

Revolutionary character of the ship

The mutinous ship is not famous for its single shot. A few years before the historical events of 1917, in 1905, the disarmed Aurora stood in the port of Manila under American control after the Battle of Tsushima. The Philippine islands turned out to be a prison for the miraculously surviving sailors, forced to eat rotten food, unable to contact their relatives, and seized by a brewing outburst of anger. They managed to raise an international signal on the mast, symbolizing the outbreak of a riot, which led to the arrival of local police and port officials on board. The Aurors put forward their ultimatum - improved nutrition and the immediate distribution of letters addressed to the sailors. The conditions were accepted by the Americans, but immediately led to a new outbreak of rebellion - opened envelopes and read letters finally alerted the sailors to the horrors of “Bloody Sunday.” Upon returning to Russia, most of the sailors were written off from the ship - thus the tsarist government sought to separate the established combat crews in order to avoid revolutionary sentiments. The attempts were unsuccessful, and in the future it was the sailors, including recruits, who formed the revolutionary backbone of Russia.

Historical shot

The salvo, which became the signal for the assault on the Winter Palace on October 25, 1917, is one of the most colorful legends about the cruiser. They say that the sailors not only did not drive away the beauty who boarded the ship, despite the well-known saying about a woman on a ship, but did not even dare to disobey. A pale-faced, tall and slender girl of unearthly beauty gave the order “Fire!” and then disappeared from sight. At the moment, it is not known for certain who dared to become the ghost of “Aurora,” but most historians are inclined to believe that it was the famous journalist, Soviet writer and revolutionary Larisa Reisner. They say that she was not sent to the Aurora by accident; they calculated purely psychologically that no sailor would refuse such a beautiful woman. 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. However, the Cruiser Aurora is depicted on the Order of the October Revolution, which itself was awarded in 1967.

Explosions and drunken sailors

Where would we be without myths about alcohol and its consequences? Recently, interesting information has emerged from various sources about the participation of drunken revolutionary sailors of the Aurora in the explosion of Fort Paul in 1923. They even say that drunken sailors started a fire at the mine warehouse located there. In July 1923, several sailors from the battleship Paris Commune (formerly Sevastopol) sailed here on a boat. The sailors' "rest" ended with a big fire. Cadets from the cruiser Aurora tried to extinguish a burning mine set on fire by sailors from the Paris Commune. There was a rumble at the fort for several days, and they say that there was not a single intact piece of glass left in all of Kronstadt. According to one of the members of the cruiser's current crew, four sailors died during the fire, and many were awarded medals for their heroic assistance in extinguishing the fire. The authors of the brochure “Forts of Kronstadt” were among the first to voice a version of the cause of the explosion. In Soviet books this issue was avoided; one could only think that the evil counter-revolution was to blame.

Star life of a cruiser

Every schoolchild planning to visit St. Petersburg definitely strives to visit the legendary ship, which served faithfully in so many battles and is now a branch of the Central Naval Museum. In fact, in addition to military merits and excursion programs, the Aurora was not spared the path of show business: in 1946, the cruiser played the role of an equally famous brother of the Varyag in the film of the same name. To match, the “make-up artists” had to do some work: they installed a fake fourth funnel and several guns on the ship, built a commander’s balcony at the stern and remade the bow. These two ships are completely different from each other, but for the undemanding viewer the “fake” went unnoticed. At the same time, the hull of the Aurora was reinforced with concrete, which already meant that the ship could not be restored, which determined the future fate of the vessel.

Ship or model

It is believed that the Aurora is the only domestic ship that has preserved its original appearance to this day. The legendary cruiser was placed in an “eternal mooring” opposite the St. Petersburg Hotel, however, this is not half the same ship that rumors continue to be heard about: the ship itself was towed to the village of Ruchi near the coastal strip of the Gulf of Finland, sawn into pieces, flooded and stolen by patriots of the 80s. During the reconstruction in 1984, most of the main part and superstructures of the unforgettable Aurora were replaced; the current museum ship uses the technology of welded seams on the new hull instead of the rivets that distinguished the original. The batteries, which included the guns removed from the cruiser, were lost on the Dudergof Heights, another gun was installed on the Baltiets armored train. About the historical weapon that ushered in the “new era of the proletarian revolution,” the senior midshipman, with a sly wink at us, said: “Read carefully the sign on the shield, it says that a historical shot was fired from the bow gun of the cruiser. But it is not said anywhere that they fired specifically from this weapon.”

“Aurora” and the October Revolution are inseparable from each other in the minds of the inhabitants of our country.

But ask a passerby on the street about the battle path of the legendary cruiser - he will not answer. Meanwhile, the true story of “Aurora” is amazing, almost incredible...

1. SURVIVED “TWIN SISTERS”

In the year of the centenary of the revolution, the cruiser Aurora itself celebrates the anniversary. It was laid down in 1897 at the New Admiralty shipyard.

Over the 120 years of its history, “Aurora” managed to take part in three revolutions and two world wars, successfully surviving to this day, which cannot be said about its two older sisters.

The cruiser "Aurora" was built third after two similar cruisers - "Diana" and "Pallada". Shipbuilding work took place within the framework of the program “to equalize our naval forces with the German and with the forces of secondary states adjacent to the Baltic.”

Russia's first armored cruisers had fairly average military and performance characteristics. The Diana and Pallada were the first to go on combat duty in 1903, strengthening the Russian squadron in Port Arthur on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War.

During the heroic defense of the city, “Diana” and “Pallada” took an active part in it. On July 28, 1904, the squadron began an attempt to break through towards Vladivostok. "Diana", having escaped from the battle, went to Saigon.

Returning to Russia, she took part in the First World War. After the revolution in 1922, the cruiser was sold to a Soviet-German joint stock company and dismantled for scrap.

“Pallada” suffered an equally sad fate. Unable to escape from besieged Port Arthur, she was blown up along with other ships after the decision was made to surrender the fortress.

2. “DAUGHTER” OF THE EMPEROR

Since the time of Peter I, naming large ships of the Russian fleet was the prerogative of the autocrat. Aurora was no exception. Nicholas II was given a choice of eleven possible names: “Aurora”, “Askold”, “Bogatyr”, “Varyag”, “Naiad”, “Juno”, “Helione”, “Psyche”, “Polkan”, “Boyarin”, “ Neptune". After some thought, the emperor succinctly wrote in the margin: “Aurora.”

Why did the choice fall on the name of the ancient Roman goddess of the dawn? There is the following version about this: the cruiser was actually named after the sailing frigate "Aurora", which took part in the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky from the superior forces of the English squadron during the Crimean War in 1854.

By the way, the total cost of building the Aurora was 6.4 million rubles in gold.

3. THREE YEARS FOR DEVELOPMENT

The ceremonial launching took place on May 11, 1900. On the upper deck of the ship, as part of the guard of honor, there was a 78-year-old sailor who served on the frigate Aurora.

However, until 1903, the installation of head engines, general ship systems and weapons took place on the Aurora. Only after this the cruiser set off on her first long-distance voyage along the route Portland - Algiers - Bizerte - Piraeus - Port Said - Port Suez.

In January 1904, the formation of Rear Admiral Virenius, which included the Aurora, received news of the outbreak of war with Japan and an order to return to the Baltic.

4. Crocodiles and midshipmen

At home, the crew of the Aurora immediately received an order to immediately go to Vladivostok to help the Pacific squadron.

During a previous trip, while in an African port, the sailors took on board two pets - crocodiles named Sam and Togo. They held various competitions with them, tried to tame them, but in vain. The first crocodile escaped from the ship during training, the second was killed during the Battle of Tsushima on May 14, 1905.

On that fateful day, 50 ships of the Russian squadron entered the Korean Strait. When the Japanese cruisers opened heavy fire on the Russian transport ships, the Aurora, along with the flagship Oleg, entered the battle. They were helped by “Vladimir Monomakh”, “Dmitry Donskoy” and “Svetlana”.

Unfortunately, the battle was lost. The captain of the cruiser, Evgeny Egoriev, died. During the battle, several compartments of the ship were flooded, the guns were disabled, and a fire blazed on the cruiser. But the Aurora did not sink - it even tried to break through to Vladivostok. However, the fuel reserves were only enough to reach the Philippine Islands, where the cruiser was interned by the Americans in the port of Manila.

Only on October 10, 1905, after the end of the war with Japan, the St. Andrew's flag was again raised on the ship, and the Americans released the cruiser to its native shores. Until 1913, the ship remained a training ship for midshipmen and made long voyages to Thailand and the island of Java.

5. CRUISER OR AIR DEFENSE ELEMENT?

Having fallen into the category of veterans, the Aurora became part of the ships that were entrusted with patrol service of the fairways from the Finnish to the Botanical Bay. But Aurora still had to fight in the First World War, albeit in a very unusual way. It played the role of air defense in the fight against low-flying, low-speed enemy aircraft. And the cruiser coped with the task brilliantly.

6. THE STORM OF WINTER COST WITHOUT AURORA

For a long time it was believed that the salvo from the Aurora in October 1917 served as a signal for the start of the assault on the Winter Palace, but this is not so.

In September 1916, the Aurora stood up against the wall of the Admiralty Plant for repairs. At the end of February 1917, a strike began at the plant. Wanting to prevent possible unrest on the cruiser, its commander Nikolsky opened fire from a revolver at the sailors who voluntarily decided to leave the ship, was killed by the crew, and a mutiny broke out on the cruiser.

From that moment on, the command of the Aurora was elected by the ship's committee. On the eve of the revolutionary events on October 24, 1917, the Aurora sailed upstream of the Bolshaya Neva to the Nikolaevsky Bridge, preventing the cadets from taking possession of it.

The ship's electricians closed the bridge openings, connecting Vasilyevsky Island with the city center. It was assumed that on October 25 at 21.40 the cruiser would fire a couple of blank shots, meaning “Attention! Readiness."

The cannon of the Peter and Paul Fortress fired first, and only then the legendary blank shot was fired from the Aurora towards the Winter Palace. But he had nothing to do with the beginning of the assault.

The shot, as the Pravda newspaper later confirmed, was only supposed to call on the revolutionary masses to be vigilant. The assault on the palace began a few hours later. The signal to him was given by volleys of guns from the Peter and Paul Fortress, two of which hit the windows of the palace.

7. VETERANS DO NOT AGE IN THE SOUL...

In 1922, it was decided to use the Aurora as a training ship for the Baltic Fleet. In 1924, already under the Soviet flag, the ship made a long voyage around Scandinavia past Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. By 1941, they wanted to exclude the veteran cruiser from the fleet, but the war prevented this decision.

Some of the guns were removed from the cruiser and used both on other ships and as part of land batteries. On July 9, 1941, a special-purpose artillery battery was formed, known in the history of the defense of Leningrad as battery “A” after the capital letter of the cruiser’s name. Unfortunately, the very gun from which the blank shot was fired at the Winter Palace was lost in the battles.

In 1944, the cruiser Aurora was permanently installed on the Neva as “a monument to the active participation of sailors of the Baltic Fleet in the overthrow of the bourgeois Provisional Government.” The cruiser took its eternal berth only on November 17, 1948, after it portrayed another revolutionary cruiser, the Varyag, in the movies.

Today, after another scheduled repair, the legendary cruiser Aurora returned to its eternal mooring.

Dmitry Sokolov.

TOPFOTO/FOTODOM,

Armored cruiser of the 1st rank of the Baltic Fleet "Aurora" in St. Petersburg. The ship took part in several naval battles of the 20th century and is considered one of the main symbols of the 1917 revolution. Since 1957, a branch of the Central Naval Museum.

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"Aurora" refers to the armored cruisers of the "Diana" class, built in the Russian Empire in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. A total of three such ships were built: Diana, Pallada and Aurora. The last cruiser received its name in honor of the Greek goddess of dawn and in memory of the sailing frigate "Aurora", which gained fame during the defense of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky during the Crimean War. The name was personally chosen by Emperor Nicholas II from eleven proposed options.

The cruiser Aurora was laid down at the New Admiralty shipyard in 1896 and ceremonially launched in 1900 in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II and a 78-year-old sailor who once served on a frigate of the same name.

In 1903, the cruiser Aurora became part of the Russian Imperial Navy. The ship spent its first service in the Far East, and then was included in the Second Pacific Squadron. In 1905, the cruiser took part in the Battle of Tsushima, where it received significant damage, after which it went to Manila, Philippines, for repairs. In 1906, the Aurora returned to the Baltic Sea. In 1909-1912, the ship took part in a training cruise in the Mediterranean Sea, and since 1913, the cruiser became the flagship of the training detachment.

During the First World War, the cruiser Aurora took part in defensive activities and continued training cruises.

During the revolutionary events of 1917, power on the ship passed to the sailors, and management was carried out by an elected ship committee. During the October Bolshevik uprising, the Aurora fired the famous blank shot at the Winter Palace, which became the signal for the start of the assault.

After the revolution, the ship again became part of the training fleet, making several international voyages. During the Great Patriotic War and the Leningrad Siege, the cruiser became part of the air defense of Kronstadt.

In 1944, it was decided to install the Aurora near the Petrogradskaya embankment as a museum-monument to the history of the fleet and the base of the Nakhimov School. In 1957, the cruiser became part of the exhibition of the Central Naval Museum. The exhibition is located in six rooms of the ship; the conning tower, engine and boiler rooms are open to the public.

The cruiser is often mentioned in various works of art - songs and poems, and he also starred in films as the cruiser "Varyag".

The displacement of the cruiser "Aurora" is 6,731 tons, the length of the vessel is 126.8 meters, the width is 16.8 meters. Crew: 20 officers and 550 sailors.

The cruiser is included in the Unified State Register of Cultural Heritage Objects (historical and cultural monuments) of Russia.

Note to tourists:

A visit to the cruiser Aurora will be of interest to all tourists, and especially those interested in maritime history. In addition, next to the ship there are other city attractions - embankments, a monument to the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet, the Noble Nest house, and the Baltic Fleet house.

Shouldn't we call the cruiser "Polkan"?

When, in September 1896, the construction of a new naval vessel began at the St. Petersburg shipyard “New Admiralty”, the proud name “Aurora” did not even occur to anyone. The new project was called the “Diana-class cruiser with a displacement of 6630 tons,” with which the cruiser existed for almost a year. Only in 1897 did he receive the name that Nicholas II came up with for him. The Emperor, so that he would not bother himself again, was offered a list of possible names. Among them: “Aurora”, “Naiad”, “Helione”, “Juno”, “Psyche”, “Askold”, “Varyag”, “Bogatyr”, “Boyarin”, “Polkan”, “Neptune”. The Emperor read the list , thought and wrote the word “Aurora” in the margins of the note.

Crocodiles from the Aurora refuse to fight

The ceremonial launching took place on May 11, 1900 in the presence of Emperor Nicholas II and Empresses Maria Feodorovna and Alexandra Feodorovna, who watched what was happening from the Imperial Pavilion.

In 1905, at the height of the Russo-Japanese War, along with members of the crew of a cruiser heading to the shores of the Land of the Rising Sun, there were a couple of crocodiles taken on board during one of the stops in an African port. Such an unusual “cargo” can be explained simply: sailors were allowed to take their pets with them on the voyage. Of course, crocodiles can hardly be called pets, but, as they say, there is no arguing about tastes. They gave the crocodiles the nicknames Sam and Togo, arranged routine baths for them, and even tried to tame them. However, as it turned out, training crocodiles is a troublesome and thankless task: having seized a good moment, one of the crocodiles rushed into the ocean and disappeared forever in its blue waters. The commander's diary that evening was supplemented with a note: “One of the young crocodiles, whom the officers released today on the poop deck for fun, did not want to go to war; he chose to jump overboard and die.” The second reptile was killed during the Battle of Tsushima.

Those who, thinking about naval service, imagine that sailors bend their backs all day, scrubbing the deck or getting poked by the captain, can be immediately disappointed by talking about the structure of life on a cruiser. Leisure time on the Aurora was fun and varied: On Maslenitsa there were boat races, races across the mars (a platform on one of the masts), aiming competitions and a theatrical performance. By the way, the cruiser’s “troupe”, consisting of sailors, turned out to be so talented that they often visited other ships of the squadron to perform.

Hero Cruiser

During the Battle of Tsushima, the cruiser proved itself to be a reliable ship, capable of not only repelling an attack, but also inflicting crushing losses on the enemy: During the battle, the cruiser fired over 300 shells at the enemy, and more than once covered other Russian battleships. After the battle, the Aurora was missing five guns, irretrievably lost 16 people (including the captain of the ship) and received ten “wounds”

Symbol of revolution

In the 1917 revolution, the role of the cruiser was given special importance. Of course, now the new government had its own formidable symbol of triumphant justice, which overnight destroyed the autocracy. However, literally in the first days after the salvo, rumors spread throughout the city, which... do not cease to this day. For example, there is an opinion that on the day of the storming of the Winter Palace, fire was opened from the cruiser. Those who believed this legend were first of all hastened to convince the ship’s crew, who sent a note to the editor of the newspaper Pravda, which stated that only one blank shot was fired from the cruiser, calling for “vigilance and readiness.” Also, this shot could not be called a signal shot, since it was fired at 21:40, while the assault began after midnight. In addition, it is worth considering that these days the cruiser was undergoing repairs, which excluded the possibility that live ammunition was fired.

The further fate of the cruiser

In 1941, the cruiser was supposed to be turned into a monument, but this was prevented by the war, during which the ship received serious damage. In July 1944, the cruiser was sent for repairs, which dragged on for four years, but eventually turned the Aurora into a monument, on board of which was located the training base of the Leningrad Nakhimov School, which later became a branch of the Central Naval Museum.

When two years later they began filming the film “Cruiser “Varyag””, they decided to film the “Aurora” as the ship. For filming, the cruiser was modified by installing a fourth, false funnel, and remodeling the bow.

In the summer of 1984, the cruiser was towed to the shipyard “for major repairs and re-equipment.” Three years later, the ship was in its place, but experts say that the cruiser now standing at the famous pier has little in common with the former Aurora. All that remains of the real cruiser is the part of the hull above the waterline. The lower one, filled with concrete, rests in the ship’s cemetery.

On September 21, 2014, the cruiser will again undergo repairs, which were previously estimated at 120 million rubles. So if you are a fan of naval technology or are interested in the history of one of the most famous ships in Russia, hurry up, the pier will be empty for about two years.

The next year will be marked by a big and controversial anniversary - the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution. In anticipation of this date, Rodina will publish unknown documents and memoirs, analytical articles and transcripts of discussions, photographs and verbal portraits of the characters in 1917. And the anniversary section “VECTORS of the Revolution” opens with its main symbol.

I heard this text on March 30, 2003 on board the cruiser Aurora, where the writer-sailor Viktor Konetsky was being remembered. He loved this ship very much. And those who came here loved Konetsky very much.

The tables were set in the wardroom. They talked quietly and not only about sad things. When Konetsky’s friend from the naval school, St. Petersburg actor Ivan Krasko, began to read this letter, the admirals and officers also began to smile. But then suddenly they reached for scarves...

_Igor Kots, chief editor of Rodina

"Having received 18 shells in battle..."

Let's look at the article of the dashing Mars naval officer L. I call him that familiarly, because he loves artistic images very much. Let's start with the title of his article - "Pirate Cruiser".

"A ship of dubious fame,- he writes, - participated in the sadly ended campaign of the 2nd Pacific Squadron of Admiral Rozhdestvensky to the Far East and even managed to avoid death at the bottom of the Tsushima Strait - the cruiser broke through to Manila."

The most interesting word here is “even” and also “at the bottom of the Tsushima Strait”.

Ships do not perish “at the bottom”, but in the waves of the ocean. We still have to get to the bottom. And you must be able to avoid death in battle and break through the encirclement of enemy ships, having received 18 shells in battle, with the commander and 14 sailors killed, with 8 wounded officers and 75 wounded sailors on board...

You, Mr. L., try to imagine what it means for the crew to be left in battle without a commander. The ability to maneuver, the ability to shoot, the ability to seal holes, the ability to evade torpedoes and shells, the ability to work for all the dead and wounded, and, most importantly, not to lower the flag, but to break through the encirclement of an enemy who is ten times stronger than you both in numbers and in quality, and still get from Tsushima to Manila on a ship riddled with shells.

“What do you dream about, the cruiser Aurora, at the hour when morning rises over the Neva?”

An effective ending for a beginning writer in a literary circle. “Aurora” dreams about a lot of things, a lot. Let's take the collection of articles "Russian Naval Art", volume 2, page 364. An officer of the cruiser "Aurora" writes:

“Our teams performed in battle above all praise. Every sailor showed remarkable composure, resourcefulness and fearlessness. Golden men and hearts! They cared not so much about themselves as about their commanders, warning about every enemy shot, covering the officers at the moment of the explosion. Covered with wounds and blood, the sailors did not leave their places, preferring to die at the guns. You didn’t even go to bandages, but they said: “We’ll have time, now there’s no time!” Only thanks to the dedication of the crew, we forced the Japanese cruisers to retreat, sinking two ships. , and four were disabled, with a large roll."

You write: "Aurora is a monument to the Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless."

L. writes: “The revolutionary ferocity of Russian sailors, their sadistic hatred of naval officers has still not been explained by historians. Were they a response to the specific aristocratic rudeness of the graduates of the Naval Corps or were they formed by the stress of serving in a confined space of cabins and cockpits?”

What kind of stress can there really be if for a thousand years sailors lived “in a closed room”? Of course, this is not a suite at the Astoria Hotel. Did they walk on the nok-for-bom-bram ray in Perth at a height higher than the Pillar of Alexandria? Nice enclosed space!

Now about the ferocity and sadistic hatred of officers, which our historians still cannot explain.

Have you, Mr. L., ever tried molts? A tench is a thin rope of white yarn, no thicker than an inch and a half in circumference.

“There was a specific aristocratic rudeness of Marine Corps graduates,” of course. But read Boris Lavrenev or Sergei Kolbasyev. But Nakhimov, Lazarev, Ushakov and hundreds of others of whom Russia is proud did not graduate from the Naval Corps?

Why are you, Mr. L., so angry at the sailors? Officers and admirals train sailors and lead them into battle. Yes, during one voyage of the Aurora to Siam (autumn - winter 1911 - 1912) with Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich on board, the sailors must have gone wild. Boris Vladimirovich managed to show so much tyranny and rudeness during the campaign, without being at all embarrassed by either the sailors or the officers’ eyes. He brought three chefs with him and 500 bottles of champagne.

You write further: “... the sailors of the Aurora, together with the “petrels of the revolution” from Kronstadt, tried to capture Petrograd in July 1917, and in October, having shelled the city, they finally earned their notorious fame as “cruisers of the revolution...”

Yes, the Aurora did not fire (you “fired”) at St. Petersburg, except for one blank bang in the direction of Zimny.

Captain-Lieutenant Viktor Konetsky

ONLY FACTS

And the cruiser’s guns smashed the Nazis

• On May 11, 1900, the cruiser was solemnly launched at the St. Petersburg shipyard "New Admiralty". Received the name "Aurora" - in memory of the sailing frigate of the same name, which heroically fought during the Eastern War of 1854 near Petropavlovsk-on-Kamchatka.
• In 1903 it became part of the Russian Navy.
• Participated in the Russian-Japanese and First World Wars.
• On October 25, 1917, he fired a blank shot from a tank gun, which became the signal for the assault on the Winter Palace. What was written by V.I. was transmitted from the Aurora. Lenin's appeal "To the citizens of Russia!"
• Since 1923 she became a training ship.
• During the Great Patriotic War, Auror sailors used main-caliber guns taken from the ship to defeat the Nazis in the area of ​​Voronya Gora and the Pulkovo Heights.
• On November 17, 1948, he dropped anchor at the site of his eternal anchorage at the Petrograd embankment of the Bolshaya Nevka.
• In 1956, a branch of the Central Naval Museum was opened on the ship.