Bands in balls aboard ship (7)
I believe the answer is:
stripes
'bands' is the definition.
(I know this)
'balls aboard ship' is the wordplay.
'balls' becomes 'tripe' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'aboard' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'ship' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
'tripe' placed into 'ss' is 'STRIPES'.
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stripes that I've seen before include "Bands or lines" , "They are given to corporal" , "Chevrons on uniforms" , "Insignia of rank" , "See 17" .)