Maybe after a grueling sea tour, you needed some time off. That’s totally understandable and ok from a resume perspective as long as you don’t have a gap of more than two years. It’s fine to have a job on your resume that says:
Company: Independent Consultant
Role: [X] Consulting for Multiple Clients
Dates: Year last worked elsewhere – Present
Then just have one bullet point that says, “Needed scheduling flexibility to take care of some personal matters, so I worked as an [independent consultant] for a year.” Just make sure you actually did something and are not lying on your resume, because you will almost cetainly be asked about it at some point in the interview process.
If you don’t have any side work during your time off, just have a bullet point under your last job (very last bullet point) that says “Needed scheduling flexibility to take care of personal family matters, which is why I left this role.”
No one will ask about the personal matters, and you can just handwave it away as “Some family items that needed to be sorted out” if they do. That way, you don’t have to explain why you took a break in the rat race, and you can phrase it as “but now I’m ready to jump back into a full-time position in the area I’m most experienced in and enjoy the most.” Don’t feel the need to over-compensate for the gap — people value simplicity and like it when people are straightforward, and they don’t like overdone bullet points or long-winded explantations by phone. 10 seconds or less during the interview, move on, excited and ready for the new gig.