International Fleet Review

A party of 7, consisting of Wayfinder, Beani, Rel, Randalll, Merlin, Rob_Jedi and myself, went to Barangaroo to see some nice boats.

Arrived for the 14:30 intake and started with HMS Daring, as it was due to close at 17:00. It was very professional.
The stern was large enough to have a helicopter land on it - and indeed, there was a helicopter (with nose decal), and various guns and armour for people to try on and take photos with.
The hangar was open and displayed information about logistics, seamanship, and a wooden plaque(?) displaying which officers were on board. From there on in, the occasional amusing warning pictures could be seen hung about; Wayfinder has photo evidence.
Saw the med bay. It had 4 sections, allowing the head and legs to be raised or lowered. Merlin has photo evidence of one of the medical staff 'operating' on him.
Were allowed to see the operations/command centre of the ship. No photos were allowed, but the sign was hung well above my usual eye level. There's not a lot of room in between the seat and the consoles; just as well that crew members are fit. Each station has 3 blue screens; inputs are a left trackball (with 3 clickable buttons at the fingers), right joystick with a button on top, and a foot pedal, for firing the guns. The ones on display were different; unfortunately I understood none of what was onscreen, but Rob_Jedi pointed out that one looked like a map of the harbour and where all the other ships in the harbour were. One station showed what a camera pointed at the stern was showing; presumably there were more cameras and the operator could flick from one picture to another.
Speaking of the crew, they tended to look rather young, ~23 or so, easy on the eyes and quite knowledgeable. Did not see many women; the only ones there were in logistics and medical.
There were ladders everywhere, and none of them had no climbing signs on them. Everyone else was very much 'NO YOU MAY NOT CLIMB THOSE' =(
The majority of the doors had multiple latches all around the outside edge and corners, likely to keep pressure and keep out water should horrible things happen to to the ship.
The deck had a turret on it, and no railing at the bow so one could leap off the front of the ship if they really felt like it. There was a ladder running up the back and over the top of the turret; I assume it was for maintenance. The inside of the turret was black and yellow - the yellow was for moving parts, so that the operators inside would know exactly what was/not going to move. I could see how that would be particularly useful, as the interior of the turret was extremely cramped. Some of the ordnance was on display; they were nearly 1m high/long, and at least 15cm in diameter.

Spent 1hr in line to see the USS Chosin. Saw Genady with 2 small children, likely his nephews, and another older man, who was probably the childrens' father. It was not worth the wait. We were only allowed to see the deck.
There were more women on this boat, and also some people of colour; I got a distinct feeling that perhaps they were trying to show something.
This ship also had a helicopter on the deck, as well as a small glass-covered raised area nearby the helicopter landing area. The glass had spray nozzles and windscreen wipers, turns out the flight operators sit in there and coordinate landings. The hatch opened, so I did so. Didn't climb in though; it looked cramped in there.
There were vents blowing air out. Lots of such vents.
There were also sections built directly at tops-of-head height. I didn't have any issues with them whatsoever, but Merlin nearly (did?) walk into one. There were signs, but not on all.

While we were waiting in line to board the Chosin, we saw ADV Ocean Shield. Its turning circle was huge, and after it was done, it drifted at stately speed up alongside the Daring. Later, we spotted it doing something with its crane alongside the Chosin - later, we'd see that was the location of 2 large green platforms floating alongside the Chosin - and Rob_Jedi remarked, "Oh yeah, we're getting ourselves a Black Hawk!" He was referring to the Seahawk helicopter aboard the Chosin.
Shortly after that, it completely disappeared; I have no idea where or in which direction it went.

Nearly missed seeing HMAS Parramatta, since by the time we got off the USS Chosin, it was 17:40, and a marching band showed up, nearly cutting off our access. Merlin and I ran ahead to get into line, but by then there was no line. Randalll was unfortunately trapped behind the marching band, and did not get to see it at all.
There was room for a helicopter here too, but no helicopter. Over the ship's bell was a strange 4 digit digital display that wasn't turned on, apparently for telling how far away a helicopter was from landing.
This hangar also had two levels - turns out the top level is for working on the helicoptor without having to climb all over it. There was a bike on there - the crew members take bikes on board so that they can cycle when they arrive at a foreign port.
The red firemains pipe is for pumping seawater (at high pressures) to fight fires. They also have an infrared/heatseeking device specifically to find where a fire might be.
Got to climb a ladder! They were displaying guns (they're moving to guns with plastic bodies, much better for a naval environment), kevlar armour, and helmets in a blue Australia Post sack stacked taller than I am. It led to the command section, but there was a line and I was impatient so I climbed back down to take a shortcut that had been mentioned earlier. When I realised the other end was just the ladder back down from there, I tried to go back but the crew were against the idea; unwilling to risk being chased on a ship and up a ladder, I missed out on seeing the command area entirely. Rel tells me the seats were office chairs tied to the floor, and there was an armchair-like captain's chair which he and Merlin sat upon. Photos were supposedly not allowed but there were no signs and the crew didn't make that clear until someone had taken a picture.
Instead, I saw a lot of plaques, most of which I think detailed where the ship had gone. There was one commemorating the ship's visit to Tasmania, several had Arabic script, others were from islands somewhere, and some had only images.