Her length was between perpendiculars and at her longest point, with a beam of and a draught of . "Sydney" was fitted with four Admiralty 3-drum boilers, which provided steam to Parsons single reduction geared turbines; these supplied to the two propeller shafts, and allowed the ship to reach . The average size of the ship's company in peacetime was 1,100, but could be increased to 1,300 for wartime deployments. Refitting the ship to serve as a transport reduced the standard displacement to 14,380 tons and the ship's company to a core of 544, which was supplemented by trainees and personnel from the Royal Australian Navy Reserve when required. The Admiralty predicted that all "Majestic"-class carriers would require upgrades to their aircraft lifts and arrester gear in the early 1950s, to operate the faster and heavier carrier aircraft under development. Originally, the RAN wanted to upgrade "Sydney" to the same or similar standard as sister ship , after the second carrier was delivered. The installation of an angled flight deck and mirror landing aid, would have allowed "Sydney" to operate modern jet aircraft. However, financial and manpower restrictions led to the cancellation of this program. "Sydney" was initially armed with thirty Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns: eighteen single mountings and six twin mountings. During her refit as a troop transport, the carrier's armament was reduced to four single Bofors. The radar suite included two Type 277Q height-finding sets, one Type 293M surface search set, one Type 960/281BQ long-range air warning set, and one Type 961 air search set. As an aircraft carrier, "Sydney" operated with the RAN Fleet Air Arm's 20th and 21st Carrier Air Groups (CAGs), which were assigned alternately to the carrier. The former was made up of 805 and 816 Squadrons, while the latter was made up of 808 and 817 Squadrons. Twenty-four aircraft, split evenly between Hawker Sea Fury fighters and Fairey Firefly attack aircraft, were normally carried. Two Supermarine Sea Otter amphibious aircraft were carried for rescue duties (but were never required for this purpose); they were not attached to any squadron, but operated as the 'Ship's Flight'. The amphibians were removed from the ship at the start of her Korean War deployment, and were replaced by a helicopter. During the carrier's Korean War deployment, 805 Squadron was added to the 21st CAG to form a 38-strong wartime air group.