Iconic Aurora cruiser to be handed over to Russian Navy on July 15

The legendary Aurora cruiser, one of the most popular tourist attractions in St. Petersburg, will be handed over to the Russian Navy after modernization on June 15, a source at the Kronstadt marine plant told TASS on Monday. "The cruiser is ready by 100%. It will be returned to the Russian Navy on July 15. The people of St. Petersburg will see it at its traditional anchorage on Petrogradskaya embankment on July 16," the plant’s source said. The Aurora has been undergoing modernization, which is estimated at around 800 million rubles, since September 2014. It came into service with the Russian Navy in 1903. It covered more than 100,000 miles and took part in three wars. In Soviet days, it was believed that the Aurora salvo was a signal to the start of an armed uprising on October 25, 1917 (the Great October Socialist Revolution). The cruiser was badly damaged during the defense of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) during the Great Patriotic War against fascist Germany in 1941-1945. The ship was repaired and moored at Petrogradzklaya embankment in 1948. Before 1956, the Aurora was a training base for the students of the Nakhimov Naval College located in St. Petersburg. The St. Andrew flag of the Russian Navy went up on the Aurora in 1992. It is ship number one in the Russian Navy. A new historical exposition will open on the Aurora late in July. It includes nine rooms devoted to the cruiser’s participation in three wars - the 1904-1905 Russian-Japanese war; the First World War and WWII. .