Decorated old sailors at end of battle (6)
I believe the answer is:
ornate
'decorated' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'old sailors at end of battle' is the wordplay.
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'sailors' becomes 'rn' (abbreviation for Royal Navy).
'end of' suggests the final letters.
The last letter of 'battle' is 'e'.
'o'+'rn'+'at'+'e'='ORNATE'
(Other definitions for ornate that I've seen before include "Florid" , "Over-elaborate" , "(Of literary style) complex and with unusual words" , "Elaborate, flowery" , "Elaborately decorated, perhaps overdone" .)