Soon after completion, on 10 October 1903, Aurora departed
Kronstadt as part of Admiral Virenius's "reinforcing squadron" for
Port Arthur.[4]
While in the
Red Sea, still en route to Port Arthur, the squadron was recalled back to the
Baltic Sea, under protest by
Admiral Makarov, who specifically requested Admiral Virenius to continue his mission to Port Arthur. Only the seven destroyers of the reinforcing squadron were allowed to continue to the
Far East.[5]
After her detachment from the reinforcing squadron and her arrival back to home port she underwent new refitting.[6] After refitting, Aurora was ordered back to Port Arthur as part of the Russian Baltic Fleet[7][8]Aurora sailed as part of
AdmiralOskar Enkvist's
Cruiser Squadron whose
flagship would be the protected cruiser Oleg, an element of Admiral
Zinovy Rozhestvensky's Baltic Fleet.[9]
On the way to the Far East, Aurora received five hits, sustaining light damage from confused friendly fire, which killed the ship's chaplain and a sailor, in the
Dogger Bank incident.[10]
October Revolution mutiny
During
World War IAurora operated in the Baltic Sea performing patrols and shore bombardment tasks. In 1915, her armament was changed to fourteen 152 mm (6 in) guns.
The ship's commanding officer, Captain Mikhail Nikolsky, was killed when he tried to suppress the revolt.[11]
Second World War
In 1922, Aurora returned to service as a training ship.
During the Second World War, her guns were taken from the ship and used in the
land defence of
Leningrad. The ship herself was docked in
Oranienbaum port,[12] and was repeatedly shelled and bombed. On 30 September 1941, she was damaged and sunk in the harbour.
She was later salvaged and repaired after the War.
Post World War II
Having long served as a museum ship, from 1984 to 1987 the cruiser was once again placed in her construction yard, the Admiralty Shipyard, for capital restoration. During the overhaul, due to deterioration, the ship's hull below the waterline was replaced with a new welded hull according to the original drawings. The cut off lower hull section was towed into the
Gulf of Finland to the decommissioned
Ruchi naval base [
ru], and sunk near the shore. The restoration revealed that some of the ship's parts, including the armour plates, were originally made in Britain.[13]
In January 2013, Russian Defence Minister
Sergey Shoygu announced plans to recommission Aurora and make her the flagship of the
Russian Navy due to her historical and cultural importance.[14] On 21 September 2014, the ship was towed to the
Admiralty Shipyard in
Kronstadt to be overhauled,[12][15] to return in 2016.[16] On 16 July 2016, she returned to her home harbour in Saint Petersburg.[17]
^Corbett (2015) Vol. 2, Chapters I, VI, X, XI, XIII, XIV
^British Naval Attache Reports (2003) p. 354 the new redesignation to the 2nd Pacific Squadron was rarely used, in both Corbett texts and official British Naval Attache Reports, the term Baltic Fleet is mostly consistent.
^""Аврора" вернется в строй" ["Aurora" will return to service]. Dve Novosti (in Russian). 27 January 2013. Archived from
the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
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ISBN0-89839-324-8
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ISBN978-1-4728-3595-6.
Skvorcov, Aleksiey V. (2015). Cruisers of the First Rank: Avrora, Diana, Pallada. Sandomierz, Poland: Stratus.
ISBN978-83-63678-56-2.
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