A lot of ships cut and run (4)
I believe the answer is:
flee
'cut and run' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'a lot of ships' is the wordplay.
'a lot of' means to remove the last letter (a lot of but not all of the word).
'ships' becomes 'fleet' (eg a naval fleet).
'fleet' with its final letter removed is 'FLEE'.
(Other definitions for flee that I've seen before include "Run (from danger)" , "Take flight" , "Abscond" , "retreat" , "Turn tail" .)