Crossword Genius

Badly restored Yankee ship (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

destroyer

'ship' is the definition.
(destroyer is a kind of ship)

'badly restored yankee' is the wordplay.
'badly' is an anagram indicator (letters in the wrong order).
'yankee' becomes 'Y' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'restored'+'y'='restoredy'
'restoredy' with letters rearranged gives 'DESTROYER'.

(Other definitions for destroyer that I've seen before include "Saboteur" , "Naval vessel" , "HMS" , "One who wrecks" , "Small, fast warship" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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