Water wars: The admiral who wrecked his ship to thwart China

In 1999, a Philippine navy ship made one final, secret voyage, sailing from Manila Bay into the remote waters of the South China Sea. The BRP Sierra Madre then ran aground, and hasn't moved since.

- REBECCA RATCLIFFE

"I did it as quietly as I could," said Vice Adm Eduardo Santos, who was chief of the navy at the time. His plan had been to run the ship on to a small reef known as Second Thomas Shoal, one of the world's most fiercely contested maritime sites, without China knowing. The move would help the Philippines defend the area for decades to come.

"The first reaction was the Chinese ambassador knocking at my office early in the morning when they heard about it... I said, 'Well, it was supposed to be on the way [to a mission], and it ran aground," said Santos. With hindsight, Santos, who is now 80, can smile, though he is keenly aware of how delicate the issue remains.

If the shoal had been left unoccupied, it would have been lost to Beijing, he said, because the Philippines was already facing a "creeping invasion" by China. Beijing had seized Mischief Reef, an atoll just 21 nautical miles (39km) away, despite being within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ) - an area that stretches 200 nautical miles from a state's coast, giving it special rights to build or exploit resources in the area. Second Thomas Shoal is also with the Philippines' EEZ.

The Sierra Madre's last journey was a crucial milestone in the wider dispute over the South China Sea, a region that hosts one of the world's busiest trade routes, and is thought to be rich in oil and gas deposits.