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Cruiser ⌠Aurora■, what are you dreaming about?

Being a child, I always wondered why we celebrated the October Revolution in November. Today, being a historian, I find the popular saying ╚the salvo of ╚Aurora▓s╩ cannons that gave birth to the new era╩ curious and strange, as a salvo is the simultaneous discharge of artillery or firearms, while on the infamous day October 25 only one Cruiser ╚Aurora▓s╩ gun fired towards the Winter Palace.

The ╚Aurora╩ is a Russian protected cruiser, currently preserved as a museum ship in St. Petersburg. She became a symbol of the Communist Revolution in Russia.

Cruiser ╚Aurora╩ after the Battle of Tsushima. Photo. 1905 [zoom (42k)]

She was one of three Pallada-class cruisers, built in St. Petersburg for a service in the Far East (on the Pacific). All the ships of this class served during the Russo-Japanese War (╚Pallada╩ was sunk by the Japanese at Port Arthur in 1904; the third ship of the class, ╚Diana╩, was interned in Saigon after the Battle of the Yellow Sea).

Aurora was part of the Russian Second Pacific Squadron formed mostly from the Russian Baltic Fleet, which was sent from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific, under the command of Vice-Admiral Rozhestvenski. On October 2, 1904 cruiser ╚Aurora╩, sailed from Libava. Its route was supposed to be through three different oceans, round Africa. After sailing for almost eight months, having made 18305 miles, the United Russian Squadron finished the most significant journey in the history of Russian Navy and entered the Korea Strait on May 14, 1905.

On the way to the Far East, she sustained light damage from confused friendly fire in the infamous Dogger Bank incident. The Dogger Bank incident (also known as ╚Incident of Hull╩ or ╚The Russian Outrage╩) occurred when the Russian Baltic Fleet mistook some British trawlers at Dogger Bank for a Japanese Imperial Navy force. The Russians attacked on the night of October 21 1904. Three British sailors died and a number were wounded. A priest aboard a Russian cruiser caught in the crossfire was also killed.

The incident almost led to war between Britain and Russia, until it was diplomatically defused. The involved Russian warships were on their way to the Far East, to partake in the Russo-Japanese War. Because of wrong reports about the presence of Japanese torpedo boats and general nervousness of the Russian sailors, approximately 30 harmless fishing trawlers were attacked by the Russians, thousands of miles away from the enemy waters.

Accidents and rumors had already dogged the journey of the fleet, and there was general fear of attack amongst the sailors, which their command tried to quell by calling for increased vigilance and issuing an order that ╚no vessel of any sort must be allowed to get in amongst the fleet╩. This soon led to a first incident unrelated to the Dogger Bank disaster, when fishermen bearing consular dispatches for the fleet were fired on (but escaped unharmed).

The disaster began in the evening, when the drunken captain of the supply ship Kamtchatka, which was last in the Russian line, took a passing Swedish ship for a Japanese torpedo boat and radioed that he was being attacked. Later in the night, the officers on duty sighted the British ships, interpreted their signals incorrectly and classified them as Japanese torpedo boats, and consequently opened fire on the British fishermen. The British trawler ╚Crane╩ was sunk and two British fishermen lost their lives. On the other boats there were six fishermen wounded, one of whom died a few months later.

Captain 1st rank E.R. Egoriev, captain of ╚Aurora╩. Photo of the early XX century [zoom (32k)]

In the general chaos, Russian ships shot at each other: when the ╚Aurora╩, approached, she was taken for a Japanese warship, bombarded and slightly damaged. At least one Russian sailor was killed, another badly wounded. A priest aboard a Russian cruiser caught in the crossfire was also killed. More serious losses on both sides were only avoided by the extremely low quality of Russian naval artillery fire, with one battleship reported to have fired more than 500 shots without hitting anything.

On 27 and 28 May 1905, ╚Aurora╩ took part in the Battle of Tsushima, along with the rest of the Russian squadron. The Battle of Tsushima commonly known as the ╚Sea of Japan Naval Battle╩ in Japan and the ╚Battle of Tsushima Strait╩ elsewhere, was the last and most decisive sea battle of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904√1905. It was fought on May 27√28, 1905 (May 14√15 in the Julian calendar then in use in Russia) in the Tsushima Strait. In this battle, the Japanese fleet under Admiral Heihachiro Togo destroyed two-thirds of the Russian fleet under Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky. It was the biggest naval battle of the pre-dreadnought battleship era.

The Battle of Tsushima was the only sea battle in history in which steel battleships fought a decisive fleet action. In addition, much to the Russian Navy▓s credit, Admiral Rozhestvensky▓s battleship fleet conducted a voyage of over 18,000 nautical miles (33,000 kilometers) to reach their Far Eastern station. ╚Aurora╩ managed to avoid being destroyed unlike the majority of the Russian vessels, and with two other cruisers (╚Oleg╩ and ╚Zhemtchug╩) broke through to a neutral Manila, where she was interned. During the battle the Captain of the ship, 1st rank captain E. R. Egoryev, was killed. On October 11, 1905 after repairs the Aurora left for Russia. On her way the ship sailed into the ports of Colombo, Djibouti, Port Said, Algeria, Cherbourg. On April 27,1906 the Aurora returned to the Russian naval base Kronshtadt near St. Petersburg.

In 1906, the ╚Aurora╩ became a cadet training ship. In September 1909 cruiser ╚Aurora╩ started for a long foreign journey, that lasted till August, 1911. It went out of the Baltic Sea, sailed the North Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, the Tyrrhenian and the Ionian Seas and entered the Aegean Sea. During the journey she visited Norwegian Port Christiansann, English Port Plymouth, Spanish Ports Vigo and Malaga, Algeria Port, Tunis Port Bizerta, French Ports Toulon and Cherbourg, Turkish Ports Chapacalle and Smirna (Izmir), Greek Port Piraeus, Italian Naples and Messina, Port Gibraltar, German Port Kiel and Danish Port Copenhagen.

In the Campaign of 1909╛1911 the ╚Aurora╩ made 25,557 miles. In November 1911 the ship was in Bangkok as part of the celebrations in honour of the coronation of the new King of Siam.

During the First World War the ship operated in the Baltic Sea. In 1915 her armament was changed to fourteen 152 mm guns. At the end of 1916, the ship was moved to Saint Petersburg (then Petrograd) for a major repair. The city was brimming with revolutionary ferment and part of her crew joined the 1917 February Revolution. A revolutionary committee was created on the ship (Aleksandr Belyshev was elected its captain). Most of the crew joined the Bolsheviks, who were preparing for a Communist revolution.

Engine room of Cruiser ╚Aurora╩. Photo of the early XXth century [zoom (53k)]

On 25 October 1917, the refusal of an order for the ╚Aurora╩ to take to sea sparked the October Revolution. At 9.45 p.m. on that date, a blank shot from her forecastle gun signalled the start of the assault on the Winter Palace, which was to be the last episode of the October Revolution. Aurora▓s crew actually took part in the attack.

The key role of ╚Aurora╩ in the 1917 revolution was one of the most significant moments of history according to Marxist historians. However, after the collapse of Communism, many historians questioned that ╚Aurora╩ actually fired its cannon, or took part in the Bolshevik coup at all. In fact, even Soviet historians were confused about the question. For example, there was a long dispute for decades whether the ship has fired a blank round or live grenades to support the Bolsheviks storming the Winter Palace. In some Soviet historic movies such an artillery attack is depicted. Some historians even deny that ╚Aurora╩ was in Petrograd on that day, although this can be easily proven. It is also rumoured that the museum ship in St. Petersburg is not the real ╚Aurora╩, only a lifelike replica, but this is highly unlikely. There are such legends surrounding many Soviet era memorials.

In 1922, the ╚Aurora╩ was brought to service again as a training ship. In July 1924, Cruiser ╚Aurora╩ with the training ship ╚Komsomolets╩ went onto her first foreign journey after the October Revolution. The ╚Aurora╩ made a few more foreign journeys in 1925, 1927, 1929, and 1930. her total sailing was more than 120 thousand miles.

During World War II, the guns were taken from the ship and used for land defense of Leningrad, surrounded by German forces. The ship itself was docked in Oranienbaum port, and was repeatedly shelled and bombed. On 30 September 1941 she was damaged and despite the heroic attempts of the crew to save it sunk in the harbour.

After extensive repairs in 1945√1947, ╚Aurora╩ was permanently anchored on the Neva in Leningrad as a monument to the Great October Socialist Revolution and in 1957 became a museum-ship. In 1984√1987, the ship was reconstructed, including the replacement of the entire hull below the waterline and new funnels and masts. From 1956 to the present day, more than 28 million people have visited ╚Aurora╩. On 2 November 1927, ╚Aurora╩ was awarded the Order of the Red Banner for its revolutionary merits and on 22 February 1968 ≈ the Order of the October Revolution. In July 1992 the Saint Andrew Naval Banner ≈ the symbol of Russian naval power ≈ was raised over the ship again.

To be continued