HMS Punjabi was a Tribal-class destroyer of the Royal Navy that saw service in the Second World War, being sunk in a collision with the battleship King George V. She has been the only ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name "Punjabi" which, in common with the other ships of the Tribal class, was named after various ethnic groups of the world, mainly those of the British Empire.

[5] The ships carried enough fuel oil to give them a range of 5,700 nautical miles (10,600 km; 6,600 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).

[6] The primary armament of the Tribal-class destroyers was eight quick-firing (QF) 4.7-inch (120 mm) Mark XII guns in four superfiring twin-gun mounts, one pair each fore and aft of the superstructure, designated 'A', 'B', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear.

[11] To increase the firing arcs of the AA guns, the rear funnel was shortened and the mainmast was reduced to a short pole mast.

[15] Launched on 1 October 1936, Punjabi was commissioned on 29 March 1939 at a cost of £342,005 which excluded weapons and communications outfits furnished by the Admiralty.

In April she made a number of deployments with the Home Fleet to search for German warships in the North Sea and off the Norwegian coast.

On 8 April, she screened the battleships coming to assist the destroyer Glowworm, which was under attack by the German cruiser Admiral Hipper.

In September, Punjabi screened the military convoys for Operation Menace, the attacks on Dakar on their passage through the North Western Approaches.

On 23 October, Matabele, Punjabi and Somali shelled and sank the weather ship WBS 5 Adolf Vinnen in the Norwegian Sea off Stadlandet, Norway.

At the end of May, she was part of the escort for capital ships of the Home Fleet hunting for the German battleship Bismarck after the sinking of the battlecruiser Hood.

On 30 August, Punjabi, Matabele and Somali escorted the aircraft carrier Argus and the cruiser Shropshire during an operation to supply the Soviet Union with Hawker Hurricanes and RAF personnel.

She then resumed normal flotilla duties before beginning a refit in December at Hawthorn Leslie and Company's yards at Newcastle upon Tyne.

The refit lasted until the end of January 1942 and involved repairing damage to machines and systems due to excess stress when steaming in heavy weather.

While steaming in formation in heavy fog, the lookout on Punjabi reported what he believed to be a mine dead ahead; the captain reflexively ordered a 15-point emergency turn to port; in so doing, she sailed directly into the path of King George V and was sliced in two by the battleship's bow.