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Here's an interesting pic that popped up on Facebook:
Oh SNAP! Now we have to paint the bloody side again!

BBfanboy wrote: Thu Oct 09, 2025 3:12 pm Here's an interesting pic that popped up on Facebook:

CA Sussex with Sonia Kamikaze imprint.jpg

Oh SNAP! Now we have to paint the bloody side again!

I wonder if and what the damage was on the other side of the hull....GP

I recall reading that not a single well-armored surface combatant (cruiser or battleship) was ever seriously endangered by a kamikaze strike. The vast majority of the ships ultimately sunk by them being destroyers and landing ships. I guess that photo shows part of the reason why. There's a lot of kinetic mass there but no great penetrating power in that blunt radial engine.

Bo Rearguard wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 11:05 am I recall reading that not a single well-armored surface combatant (cruiser or battleship) was ever seriously endangered by a kamikaze strike. The vast majority of the ships ultimately sunk by them being destroyers and landing ships. I guess that photo shows part of the reason why. There's a lot of kinetic mass there but no great penetrating power in that blunt radial engine.

BB Missouri had a similar but glancing aircraft hit against her armoured belt and suffered no damage other than the paint. Sussex's armour belt would be about 5" as opposed to 12" for Missouri, but the fact it was not dished in suggests the plane's bomb(s) did not explode against it. Perhaps it dropped the bombs and then got shot down, but with enough control to go kamikaze.

BBfanboy wrote: Fri Oct 10, 2025 3:52 pm Perhaps it dropped the bombs and then got shot down, but with enough control to go kamikaze.

That's a strong possibility as that sort of desperate tactic had occurred previously in the war before kamikazes were a organized force. Another could be that because of the sporadic shortages of aerial munitions, kamikaze pilots were often instructed not to arm their bombs until the last minute, so that if they failed to find a suitable target, they could return to base without jettisoning the bombs. This led to a number of cases where in the existential stress of the moment the pilot forgot to arm his bombs and they did not explode on impact, making what might have been a lethal attack merely damaging.

Off the top of my head, several cruisers and battleships were damaged by kamikazes off the Philippines during the Leyte operation, Australia and Mississippi perhaps. Personnel losses were not insignificant as they were mainly AA crews but structural damage was nil. Again, off the top of my head FWIW.

No question that a kamikaze aircraft could mess up superstructure and equipment. Hitting the armour belt is the theme in the situation starting this thread.