Karina Banaduc and Babatunde Ebunola brought their $700,000 budget to New York City in search of a three-bedroom apartment or house. “I was worried because I did not know if it was possible,” Ms. Banaduc said. Karsten Moran for The New York Times

After enlisting in the U.S. Navy at 19, Babatunde Ebunola landed a job right out of a Hollywood blockbuster: machinist’s mate nuclear, or “nuke,” making him responsible for the nuclear propulsions systems in submarines.

He spent long stretches working leagues under the sea. One six-month deployment coincided with the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving him and his fellow submariners largely uninformed.

“We don’t take any messages,” said Mr. Ebunola, now 30.

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In 2023, after he’d returned to the surface and been stationed at a base outside Charleston, S.C., one message did catch his attention — on Hinge. It was from Karina Banaduc, an Army Reserve sergeant in town from nearby Myrtle Beach, S.C., for routine training.