Sinking of Rawalpindi

23 November 1939, Between Iceland and the Faroes

German success; Rawalpindi sunk

Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, under Admiral Wilhelm Marschall, sortied to break into the Atlantic and draw British ships away from Graf Spee in the South Atlantic. On the afternoon of 23 November they met the armed merchant cruiser Rawalpindi, an old P&O liner with 6-inch guns, on the Northern Patrol. Captain Edward Kennedy signalled the sighting, refused the order to stop, and fought. Scharnhorst wrecked her in a few minutes; she burned for hours before sinking. 238 men were killed; the Germans picked up 27 and the armed merchant cruiser Chitral eleven more. Fearing the Home Fleet, Marschall turned for home in bad weather and slipped back through the North Sea.