HMS Rawalpindi was a British armed merchant cruiser (a converted ocean liner employed as a convoy escort, as a patrol vessel, or to enforce a blockade) that was sunk in a surface action against the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau during the first months of the Second World War.

The ship started life as the 16,697 GRT Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) ocean liner Rawalpindi, built by Harland and Wolff.

On 19 October in the Denmark Strait, Rawalpindi intercepted the German tanker Gonzenheim (4,574 grt), which had left Buenos Aires on 14 September.

Rawalpindi managed to score one hit on the aft deck of Scharnhorst, which caused minor splinter damage.

Captain Kennedy—the father of naval officer, broadcaster and author Ludovic Kennedy—was posthumously Mentioned in Dispatches.

[10] Crew members on Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were eligible for the High Seas Fleet Badge for participating in the sinking of Rawalpindi.