Chance to cover masts with sails in warship (7)
I believe the answer is:
frigate
'warship' is the definition.
(frigate is a kind of warship)
'chance to cover masts with sails' is the wordplay.
'chance' becomes 'fate'.
'to cover' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'masts with sails' becomes 'rig' (group of masts with sails on a ship).
'fate' going around 'rig' is 'FRIGATE'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for frigate that I've seen before include "Type of warship" , "Ship" , "Light warship" , "US warship" , "Warship - seabird" .)