Question: Is there any documentation for each suicide run in WW2which hit its target caused a ship to sink, such as a carrier, cuiser or Battleship? Or was this manily just damage to that ship.
23-26 Oct, 1944. Off Leyte, 55 Kamikaze pilots, in the first planned mass suicide attack of the war, coordinated with the IJN attack on Leyte Gulf, hit the escort carriers and sank the St. Lo (CVE-63) and damaged the large escorts Sangamon (CVE-26), Suwannee (CVE-27), Santee (CVE-29), and small escorts White Plains, Kalinin Bay, and Kitkun Bay. In all, 7 carriers were hit and 40 other types damaged; five ships were sunk, 23 heavily damaged, and 12 moderate damage.
9 Jan, 1945. The cruiser HMAS Australia was struck by a kamikaze carrying a 15" or 16" British artillery shell, and was forced to retire with her fore funnel smashed, a large hole in her port side, steering reduced, several boilers shut down and bulkheads flexing alarmingly. She took no further part in the war.
25 Mar, 1945 - 21 Jun, 1945. Off Okinawa -- Ten "Kikusui", swarms of Kamikaze, up to 350 attackers at a time, 1,900 in total, damaged 250 ships with 34 destroyers and smaller ships sunk. Several ships were damaged so badly they were not repaired. One in seven of all naval causalities occurred off Okinawa.
Specific attacks:
6 Jun, 1943. After the last of the Japanese carriers had been set afire by American dive bombers, some of the pilots were ordered to chase Japanese heavy cruisers trying to escape. After being badly shot up and his plane set afire, Captain Richard E. Fleming crashed his plane into the after gun turret of the cruiser
Mikuma, causing severe damage from the flaming gasoline that leaked down into the engine spaces. Captain Soji, commander of the nearby cruiser Mogami, later said about this that "I saw a dive-bomber dive into the last turret and start fires. He was very brave." Richard Fleming was posthumously awarded a Congressional Medal of Honor as a result -- for being a sort of American kamikaze pilot.
7 Dec, 1944. In Ormoc Bay at Leyte, the USS Ward (DD-139) is struck amidships by a two-engine Japanese bomber, hitting the troop compartment, although the resulting blast took out power and communications throughout the ship. The Japanese bomber was moving so fast that it came out the opposite side of the ship. USS Ward is sunk by the USS O'Brien about an hour and a half later.
12 Apr, 1945. Off Okinawa, destroyer Mannert L. Abele (DD-733) is sunk by Okha -- she is the first U.S. Navy ship to be sunk by that type of weapon. Destroyer Stanly (DD-478) is damaged by Baka. High speed minesweeper Jeffers (DMS-27) is damaged by Okha and kamikaze.
4 May, 1945. Light minelayer Shea (DM-30) is damaged by an Okha. Minesweeper Gayety (AM-239) is damaged by near-misses of kamikaze and Okha.
24July, 1945. Destroyer escort Underhill (DE-682), destroyed while intercepting 4 Kaitens from Japanese submarine I-53 off Luzon.
On a casualties-per-person basis, the kamikaze program was very effective. On a ships-damaged-per-kamikaze basis, the kamikaze program was moderately effective; at the time it was implemented, Japan was losing the war of production badly enough that all it was doing was slowing down the rate at which the US was winning. As a means of turning the war around and destroying the American forces or their will to fight, it was an abject failure.
Some discussions of the kamikaze pilots:
