USS Dickerson (DD-157) was a Wickes-class destroyer in the United States Navy, and was converted to a high-speed transport at Charleston, South Carolina and designated APD-21 in 1943. She was named for Mahlon Dickerson (1770–1853), Secretary of the Navy from 1834 to 1838.

Kamikaze , officially Shinpū Tokubetsu Kōgekitai , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to destroy warships more effectively than with conventional air attacks. About 3,800 kamikaze pilots died during the war, and more than 7,000 naval personnel were killed by kamikaze attacks.