In late April 1942 convoy PQ-15 was en route for Murmansk, Russia. One threat on the Allies minds was the
German battleship Tirpitz, which was operating out of Norway. With this in mind a group of ships including
HMS King George V and the USS Washington BB-56 along with HMS Victorious, HMS Kenya, USS Tuscaloosa
CA-37, USS Wichita CA-45 and a group of destroyers which included HMS Punjabi G-21, departed Iceland to
provide distant cover to the convoy. The idea was that if they received a report that the Germans were on the
move the heavy guns of the battleships and the aircraft from the Victorious could engage them. For HMS Punjabi
it was not the German ships they need to fear, but their own.
Tragedy struck on May 1, 1942 when the fleet sailed into a thick fog about 150 miles east of Iceland and the
HMS King George V lost visual contact with the HMS Punjabi, around 15:45 hrs. the bow of the KGV slammed
into the Punjabi amidships, the 1,800 ton destroyer had no chance against the battleship which, at full load
displaced over 42,000 tons.
Punjabi was cut completely in two and the stern went under almost immediately, the men in that section of the
ship never knew who had killed them. The bow remained on the surface, listing badly but afloat. It stayed afloat
for some time and most of those saved came from the forward section. However those on the forward section
watched in horror as the USS Washington BB-56, another 42,000 ton battleship, sailed right between the two
halves. Washington had not seen the collision and in the fog could not change course in time to avoid the
stricken ship. It is probable that some of the men in the water were run down by the battleship, even more
were killed when the depth charges from the Punjabi exploded at the set depth. The explosions also damaged
Washington, but not seriously.
Two destroyers, HMS Martin G-44 and HMS Marne G-35 came on the scene and rescued 209 men, 169 from the
forward section and 40 from the water, sadly forty-nine of Punjabi's crew went down with the ship. The KGV
was out of action until June because of the damage from the collision.
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