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US aircraft carrier the USS Kitty Hawk arrived in Sydney on Thursday for a six-day visit, drawing spectators to the shores with camera phones, camcorders and SLRs in tow.

With the naval vessel shortly being decommissioned after 40 years of service, this was the last chance to catch a glimpse of its imposing form -- it's bigger than the Titanic -- so we took a quick trip to the Garden Island mooring to see for ourselves.

Being unschooled in the world of maritime combat, we needed a guide to give us a rundown of the impressive -- and often unnerving -- tech features of the Kitty Hawk. We could think of none better than Phil "Mono" Massaad, who made a name for himself as the Nautical Nerd on season one of Nerds FC on SBS.

In this video, Phil gives us the lowdown on some of big-boys'-toy features on the Kitty Hawk, and tells us how controlling a navy ship in a computer game differs from the real-life version.

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damo
10/07/2007 03:58 PM

Radar/sonar units? Sure, the "whirley birds" are radar but the "lump"... how about radomes for satellite communication?

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