Ship firefighting in World War II. Fire burning on the aft section of the USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24), a light aircraft carrier of the US Navy, after a kamikaze attack off the Philippines on 30 October 1944. Flight deck crewmen are moving undamaged TBM torpedo planes away from the flames as others fight the fires. The USS Franklin (CV-13), on fire in the distance, was also hit during this attack. Kamikaze attacks were suicide attacks carried out by Japanese pilots flying specially adapted aircraft carrying a combination of explosives, bombs, torpedoes and full fuel tanks. They were designed to destroy warships more effectively than was possible with conventional attacks.