A VERY geo-political posting there, sam. The Aurora is infamous for firing a cannon shot at the Tsar's Winter Palace signaling the start of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. The Russian Navy played a major role in the overturning of the Tsarist government. Their part in the revolution would eventually come back to haunt them during the Stalin military purges of the mid-1930's. It has been suggested for year that the Aurora's famed shot, is more myth than reality. It has even been suggested that this is NOT the actual Aurora, but a full-sized replica.

http://aurora.org.ru

This IS original Avrora, but during overhaul in the 1980s, all undersurface part was cut off and replaced with a new one ;-)