Peak Finder

Photo: Mount Sturdee from the north on Mount Strom (courtesy Alan Kane)

Mount Sturdee

  • 3155 m (10,352ft)
  • First Ascent
  • Naming History
  • Hiking and Trails
50.8681N -115.665W
Located 1 km west of Mount Assiniboine at the head of Assiniboine Creek

Province: BC
Park: Assiniboine
Headwater: Kootenay
Ascent Date: 1920
Ascent Party: W.W. Foster, E.L.T. Taylor, Mr. and Mrs. P.S. Thompson
Year Named: 1917
Named for: Sturdee, Sir Frederick Charles Doveton (Sir Sturdee was the commander of the British naval vessels in the 1914 Battle of the Falkland Islands.)
Popular Hike: Assiniboine

THE BATTLE OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee was the commander of the British naval vessels in the 1914 Battle of the Falkland Islands. German naval forces had been raiding commercial shipping in the south Atlantic and a much larger Royal Navy formation was dispatched to the area. The battle, although not a complete victory, freed Britain's trade and troop transport routes in that part of the world from the threat of surface raiders for the duration of the war. The Cornwall and Glasgow, together with HMS Kent, were pursuing three German warships that were trying to escape the main battle and seek refuge in Tierra del Fuego. Choosing to concentrate their attention on the German light cruiser Leipzig, HMS Glasgow engaged first, attempting to slow down the fleeing German ship and allow the Cornwall to catch up and assist. The Glasgow suffered some hits but the tactic was successful and soon HMS Cornwall came into range and, as her captain wrote, "Cornwall hit the Lepzig's foretopmast and carried it away, turned to starboard, and I poured in my whole broadside." The two English ships then engaged their wounded quarry from opposite sides, their fire becoming more and more effective as they slowly closed the range. Out of ammunition, the Leipzig fired its last two torpedoes but the British had by then retreated out of range. They then re-approached the Leipzig to see if the Germans had "struck her colours," but since her ensign was still flying, opened fire once more. Her flag still flying, the Leipzig heeled over to sink rapidly by her bows. The British ships could rescue only 18 of the 286 sailors and Captain Ellerton of HMS Cornwall, "regretted that an officer as gallant as Captain Haun of the Leipzig was not one of them." HMS Cornwall and HMS Glasgow have mountains in the Elbow River headwaters named in their honour.