Clumsy admiral to set out (9)
I believe the answer is:
maladroit
'clumsy' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'admiral to set out' is the wordplay.
'set out' is an anagram indicator.
'admiral'+'to'='admiralto'
'admiralto' is an anagram of 'MALADROIT'.
(Other definitions for maladroit that I've seen before include "Inept, clumsy" , "Awkward - unskilful" , "Clumsy or bungling, ham-fisted" , "Inefficient, clumsy" .)