European back after short time in ship (11)
I believe the answer is:
minesweeper
'ship' is the definition.
(I know that minesweeper is a type of ship)
'european back after short time' is the wordplay.
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'back' becomes 'sweeper' (football term).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'short time' becomes 'min' (abbreviation for minute).
'e'+'sweeper'='esweeper'
'esweeper' put after 'min' is 'MINESWEEPER'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for minesweeper that I've seen before include "Naval vessel" , "In the main, clearer" , "One removing bombs" , "PC game" , "Warship" .)