Soon after completion, on October 10, 1903,  Aurora departed Kronstadt as part of Admiral Virenius's "reinforcing squadron"  for Port Arthur.

While in the Red Sea, still enroute 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 7 destroyers of the reinforcing squadron were allowed to continue to the Far East.

After her detachment from the reinforcing squadron and her arrival back to home port she underwent new refitting.
After refitting, Aurora was ordered back to Port Arthur as part of the Russian Baltic Fleet  Aurora sailed as part of Admiral Oskar Enkvist's Cruiser Squadron whose flagship would be the Protected Cruiser Oleg, an element of Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky's Baltic Fleet.

On the way to the Far East, Aurora received 5 hits, sustaining light damage from confused friendly fire, which killed the ship's chaplain and a sailor, in the Dogger Bank incident.

On 27 and 28 May 1905 Aurora took part in the Battle of Tsushima, along with the rest of the Russian squadron.
During the battle her captain, Captain 1st rank Eugene R. Yegoryev, and 14 crewmen were killed.
The executive officer, Captain of 2nd rank Arkadiy Konstantinovich Nebolsine, took command although wounded.
After that Aurora, covering other much slower Russian vessels, became the flagship of Rear-Admiral Enkvist, and with two other Russian cruisers broke through to neutral Manila, where she was interned by United States authorities from 6 June 1905 until the end of the war.

In 1906 Aurora returned to the Baltic and became a cadet training ship.
From 1906 until 1912 the cruiser visited a number of other countries; in November 1911 she was in Bangkok as part of the celebrations in honour of the coronation of the new King of Siam.
Soon after completion, on October 10, 1903,  Aurora departed Kronstadt as part of Admiral Virenius's "reinforcing squadron"  for Port Arthur. 
While in the Red Sea, still enroute 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 7 destroyers of the reinforcing squadron were allowed to continue to the Far East.
After her detachment from the reinforcing squadron and her arrival back to home port she underwent new refitting. After refitting, Aurora was ordered back to Port Arthur as part of the Russian Baltic Fleet  Aurora sailed as part of Admiral Oskar Enkvist's Cruiser Squadron whose flagship would be the Protected Cruiser Oleg, an element of Admiral Zinovy Rozhestvensky's Baltic Fleet. 
On the way to the Far East, Aurora received 5 hits, sustaining light damage from confused friendly fire, which killed the ship's chaplain and a sailor, in the Dogger Bank incident.
On 27 and 28 May 1905 Aurora took part in the Battle of Tsushima, along with the rest of the Russian squadron. During the battle her captain, Captain 1st rank Eugene R. Yegoryev, and 14 crewmen were killed. The executive officer, Captain of 2nd rank Arkadiy Konstantinovich Nebolsine, took command although wounded. After that Aurora, covering other much slower Russian vessels, became the flagship of Rear-Admiral Enkvist, and with two other Russian cruisers broke through to neutral Manila, where she was interned by United States authorities from 6 June 1905 until the end of the war.
In 1906 Aurora returned to the Baltic and became a cadet training ship. From 1906 until 1912 the cruiser visited a number of other countries; in November 1911 she was in Bangkok as part of the celebrations in honour of the coronation of the new King of Siam.
Russian cruiser Aurora