After a boiler clean on 10 January 1942, Ashanti arrived at Scapa Flow and spent January and February escorting capital ships on exercises besides convoy escort on the Murmansk run. By the beginning of August, she and the other ships of Force 'Z' set sail for Gibraltar. There, they would provide cover for a massive convoy being assembled to support Malta. After the exhausting heat of the Mediterranean, the Tribals were sent back to the bitter cold of the Arctic for convoy duty. Later in the war, surviving Tribals would be 'arcticised'. Steam or electric heating was supplied to the gun mountings and torpedo tubes and special insulation was fitted to critical machinery to ensure it would not be affected by the freezing temperatures. On 24th September, while providing cover for convoy PQ-14, a German submarine was detected. Depth charging did not produce any results and the contact was lost. Ashanti, running low on fuel, interchanged positions with HMS Somali on the inner screen and awaited a favourable opportunity to refuel. Somali took up Ashanti’s position and was immediately hit amidships by a torpedo from the German submarine U-703. The damage was very extensive. Only the upper deck was holding the ship together. Most of Somali's crew was transferred to other ships except for 80 who remained aboard for damage control. Somali was then taken in tow by Ashanti. After towing the crippled ship for nearly 420 miles, Somali's remaining plates buckled and she folded in half and sank. Only a few men survived.

In January 1943, Ashanti returned to Gibraltar for repairs to her feedwater tanks. While berthing along HMS Renown, the destroyer chipped one of her propellers on the battlecruiser’s bilge keel. After repairs were completed, more North African coastal patrols were assigned to the ship. By March, Ashanti, was pronounced unfit for operations and was sent to Malta to have the defects rectified. Following that, she sailed back to England for a major refit and more work on the chronic problems with the feedwater tanks.

In 1948, she was used in damage control tests in Loch Striven. Ashanti had survived North Atlantic gales, the Norwegian Campaign, running aground, Arctic convoys, the invasion of North Africa, U-boats, aircraft, and some of the toughest destroyer fighting of the Second World War. On 12 April 1949, she could no longer hold on and was destined to be broken up at Troon. She was an absolute nightmare from a maintenance and engineering viewpoint, yet she never let anyone down while in action. What more could be asked of a warship? The old witchdoctors’ spells had proved stronger than the hazards of the sea and the violence of the enemy.