For most of us, the current lockdown is jarring and tedious. But, for our nuclear ballistic missile submarine crews, isolation is something to revel in. The more isolated these crews are, the more successful their patrols will be judged. They are very happy to avoid contact with the world.

Spread across 14 Ohio-class submarines, these crews are the linchpin of America’s nuclear deterrent force. Four or five of the submarines are on “hard-alert” patrol at any one time, ready to strike the command and control hubs of America’s two most likely nuclear adversaries, Beijing and Moscow.