“The Second Voyage of the Seventh Carrier” eBook was published in 2016 (original paper edition published in 1986) and was written by Peter Albano. Mr. Albano published 14 novels with this being the second in his “Seventh Carrier” series.

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence and Mature Situations. The story is set in the 1980s with the primary character being Ensign Brad Ross.

The Japanese aircraft carrier Yonaga, the seventh carrier intended for the fleet that attacked Perl Harbor in 1941 has been trapped in ice since just before the Japanese fleet sailed for the attack on Perl.

Now free of the ice, it first carried out its mission and attacked Perl Harbor. Returning to Tokyo, it fires on a Libyan aircraft that approached the carrier. The Chinese launch a satellite system that fails almost immediately and begins to shoot down all jets and rockets around the world. Kadafi sets his target on Israel now that it does not have much of an air force to protect it and both Japan and the Yonaga, because the Yonaga fired on his plane.

The Yonaga is tasked with sailing to the Mediterranean to rescue Japanese hostages and provide some much needed relief for Israel. Ross and a few other Americans are invited to stay on board the Yonaga to assist with their mission. The US and Russia are holding each other at bay, preventing much in the way of overt action.

That is a very short summary. There is a lot more background information that sets the stage for the series. Basically military tech is set back to WWII era weapons for the most part. The US and Russia prevent one another from taking an active role. This leaves the Yonaga with its nearly full complement of WWII aircraft as the most powerful warship in the world.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 9.5 hours I spent reading this Alternate History. There are 11 novels in this series and I have read about half of them now, though not all in the correct order. This novel, while the second in the series, reads pretty well as a stand-alone novel. I liked the characters that Albano created. The cover art is a little odd in that it is not a carrier. Perhaps, though, it refers to a cruiser that is a part of the story. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

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