The Last Ship was one of my fave schlocky TV shows from the last couple of years. I might even have written about it here. The premise was simple. A guided missile destroyer is in the Arctic on a secret mission, running dark for three months, when a pandemic erupts and sweeps the globe. Unlike our pandemic, this one was a civilisation-ender.
This piece in The Graun, recalled that series for me. It’s by some kid who was serving on a French nuclear submarine when Covid hit. The crew had no idea until their mission was complete that anything had happened. They surfaced into a Covid World and had to adjust immediately.
Being in a submarine is a bit like being in a spaceship. Letters from family were allowed – to keep crew members motivated – but, for safety and discretion, all communication from the crew’s families was seen first by navy staff who removed any content that could cause panic on board. For example, if my partner broke up with me through a letter, that might be censored.
We received regular news bulletins with updates on politics and football games, but not much about things that could affect the crew’s efficiency and psychological state. The only news I received from my family were things like “Your brother won his judo competition” or “We miss you”.
In February 2020, as Covid started to emerge in Europe, the navy began filtering out all Covid-related news in our bulletins, which meant that we basically stopped receiving any news at all. They asked our families not to send anything that would worry us. My mum later told me she had written to me about Covid several times, but I never read any of that in her letters.
What lies beneath: our love affair with living underwater
Throughout March and April, we had no idea that Covid was even a thing, let alone that France was under strict lockdown. We only found out in mid-April 2020, two days before we were set to come back. The radio channels on the submarine announced the news: “There is a deadly virus. It has arrived in France; you can’t leave your home.”
Can you imagine being on a sub and getting that message over the PA system? You’d think it was the end of the world. It’d be a great premise for a story, except, of course, it’s already been done.
I like that we've gone from "big stories" from these concepts to the little ones about humans (I know, arguably even the big stories wind up being about the little humans). Instead of the nuclear armed sub where they have to decide whether the transmission to launch is real or not, it's whether young Juliet will ever be reunited with her partner and kid.
I like that we've gone from "big stories" from these concepts to the little ones about humans (I know, arguably even the big stories wind up being about the little humans). Instead of the nuclear armed sub where they have to decide whether the transmission to launch is real or not, it's whether young Juliet will ever be reunited with her partner and kid.
"Unlike our pandemic, this one was a civilisation-ender" ... this pandemic ain't over yet?