
UNDER COVER OF darkness, I boarded a Navy vessel at a heavily guarded military base along the Eastern Seaboard. The location and time of departure, as well as the direction and distance of travel, were unknown to me. Adding to the sense of secrecy, a towering sailor in camouflage stood in the rain, examining my belongings for electronics that might leave a digital trail an adversary could intercept and exploit.
Buffeted by strong winds and high Atlantic seas, the support ship sailed through the night for more than 15 storm-tossed hours toward a destination somewhere off the continental shelf.
Just after dawn, a sleek, inky object appeared in the distance, right above the waterline. It was the protruding bridge of what sailors call a "boomer"-a submarine armed to the gills with nuclear missiles- which is considered the most lethal, stealthy, and survivable weapon in America's strategic arsenal.
Photographer Philip Montgomery and I had been granted permission to chronicle life aboard a boomer at a perilous time.
Our embed was unique: The arms and technology on board, along with the ship's routines and missions, are among the government's most closely guarded secrets. We'd been told that the number of civilians who had been given this level of access (carrying cameras, no less) was roughly the same as that who have walked on the moon.
Last summer, when I'd placed a request for the voyage, America was confronting two superpower threats: Beijing's increasingly bold advances in the South China Sea and Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Then, in October, the Israel-Hamas war added new urgency. US warships were drawn
This story is from the Hollywood 2024 edition of Vanity Fair US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Hollywood 2024 edition of Vanity Fair US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In

NYPD CONFIDENTIAL
Along with a contingent of detectives and undercover operatives, the NYPD's counterterror czar, Rebecca Weiner, defends New York City and the nation against enemies foreign and domestic. ADAM CIRALSKY reports from inside the country's most elite local law enforcement agency

VIBE CHECK
WITH 2024 IN THE REARVIEW, HIGH-RANKING DEMOCRATS ARE FINALLY ARRIVING AT THE HARD TRUTH THAT THEIR PARTY IS UNWELL. \"DISARRAY\" DOESN'T QUITE COVER IT. AS FOR WHAT THEY'RE DOING ABOUT IT-AND WHETHER THEY CAN EVER WREST THE COUNTRY BACK FROM TRUMP AND TRUMPISMIT DEPENDS ON WHOM YOU ASK

WHERE DEI Went to D-I-E
Many people of color in Hollywood suspected it was mostly window dressing—and they’ve been proven right

Masks OFF
He spent his teen years concealing his sexuality. Now BENITO SKINNER IS mining that awkward time for art

Gastronomic IMMUNITY
Washington, DC's ascendant dining scene prepares to seat a second Trump administration

THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE
AS THE SENSATIONAL HIT SERIES THAT LAUNCHED HER CAREER COMES TO AN END, MILLIE BOBBY BROWN HAS A PLAN TO SUSTAIN THE MOMENTUMALL WHILE SAYING NO AS MUCH AS SHE NEEDS TO AND LIVING ON A FARM IN GEORGIA. WHY NOT? STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED

SECOND ACT
SMASH, THE SHORT-LIVED 2012 TV SERIES, DEVELOPED A DEDICATED CULT FOLLOWING. NOW, STEVEN SPIELBERG AND COMPANY HAVE RESURRECTED IT FOR BROADWAY. MICHAEL RIEDEL TELLS THE BACKSTORY OF THE ORIGINAL SHOW AND THE NEW PRODUCTION, REVEALING THE MAD RHAPSODIES OF MAKING A MUSICAL

No WONDER
RUPERT EVERETT reveals what’s behind his new collection of short stories, a meditation on rejection

Cinema VERITÉ
At Art Basel Paris, Miu Miu reaffirms its support of women in film

A KILLER VIEW
When an heiress to the L.L. Bean fortune noticed that a grove of majestic oaks on her coastal Maine property had died, she cast her suspicions on her neighbors uphill, summer residents who wanted a better view of Camden Harbor. The legal fight that ensued became a town drama that roils to this day