Operation Kikusui

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Operation Kikusui
Part of the Battle of Okinawa, Pacific theater, World War II
US Navy aircraft carrier Enterprise struck by kamikaze aircraft
Date 6 April 1945 to 22 June 1945 Location seas around Okinawa Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United States  United Kingdom	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Marc Mitscher	Matome Ugaki
Units involved
United States Pacific Fleet British Pacific Fleet	Imperial Japanese Navy Carrier Division 5 1st Air Fleet 5th Air Fleet Imperial Japanese Army 6th Air Army 8th Flying Division
Strength
	1,827 kamikaze aircraft (often accompanied by other aircraft）
Casualties and losses
4,907 sailors killed 4,824 sailors wounded[1] 218 ships damaged 36 ships (destroyers and smaller) sunk 763 carrier aircraft	~3,800 kamikaze pilots killed throughout the war[2]

Operation Kikusui (菊水作戦, Kikusui sakusen) was a series of suicidal air attacks by Imperial Japanese forces during the Battle of Okinawa against Allied fleets in the waters around Okinawa, as part of Operation Ten-Go. The name of the operation, "Kikusui" (Japanese: 菊水, "Chrysanthemum Water"), comes from the hata-jirushi of the samurai Kusunoki Masashige.