A number of Allied ships were damaged by Japanese suicide air attacks during World War II. Many of these attacks were by the kamikaze (officially Shinpū Tokubetsu Kōgekitai, "Divine Wind Special Attack Unit"), using pilot-guided explosive missiles, purpose-built or converted from conventional aircraft, by the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of the war, although several ships were also sunk or damaged in the earlier part of the war by intentional crashes of conventional Japanese war planes.