The early revolutionary fleet did not move uniformly toward Bolshevism. Naval committees often seem to have included experienced non-commissioned officers, which could produce a more moderate Social Democratic tendency than in some army units. Aurora nevertheless became the leading naval symbol of the October Revolution after her crew turned against the provisional government. Her presence in Saint Petersburg preserves that political role and the material history of a Pallada-class protected cruiser commissioned in 1903. The ship's modest military value contrasts with the extraordinary institutional importance later attached to her.
Chapter · 16:03-20:22
Aurora and the fleet left after revolution
Aurora's crew joined the revolutions of 1917, turning an aging protected cruiser into the enduring symbolic flagship of the Soviet and Russian naval story.