Cruiser "Aurora" 

Not far away, at the point where the arm of the Neva, the Greater Nevka (Bolshaya Nevka), flows out of it, the legendary cruiser Aurora lies at an­chor. The cruiser was named after the frigate Aurora, which became famous during the Crimean War (1853-1856).

Built at the St. Petersburg shipyard, the cruiser was launched in 1903 and fought in the battles of the Russo-Jap­anese War (1904-1905). Not long be­fore the February Revolution of 1917 it was placed in dock for a general overhaul. In October 1917 the sailors of the Aurora joined the insurgent people. On the night of October 25 (November 7), on the orders of the Military Revolutionary Committee, the cruiser sailed into the Neva and dropped anchor by the middle span of the St. Nicholas Bridge (now the Annunciation bridge ) and trained its guns on the brightly illumi­nated windows of the Winter Palace, the seat of the Provisional Govern­ment. According to soviet official historiography at 21 hours 45 minutes the Au­rora gave the signal for the storming of the Winter Palace.

The crew of the Aurora fought her­oically in the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). In Novem­ber 1948 the ship was allotted a per­manent mooring near the building of the Nakhimov Military Naval College as a monument to the Great October Socialist Revolution. In 1957 a branch of the Central Naval Museum was set up on the Aurora. The six-inch gun from which the legendary shot was fired is carefully preserved on the  ship, as is the radio-room, the first ra­dio station of the proletarian revolu­tion. From this station Lenin's appeal "To tbe Citizens of Russia" was broad­cast, announcing the overthrow of the bourgeois Provisional Government and the victory of the proletarian Rev­olution in Russia.

In a special room on the ship you can see the gifts presented to the Aurora. Having long been an icon of the revolution, it is mocked by some as “the world’s deadliest weapon”, that ruined the country for over 70 years with just one shot.