Give rating a note to take between ships (6)
I believe the answer is:
assess
'give rating a' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'note to take between ships' is the wordplay.
'note' becomes 'a' (musical note).
'to take' means one lot of letters goes inside another (inserted letters are taken in).
'between' becomes 'e' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'ships' becomes 'SS SS' (the abbreviation for steamship, twice).
'e' going within 'ssss' is 'ssess'.
'a'+'ssess'='ASSESS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for assess that I've seen before include "Estimate, gauge" , "(Of a tax) determine the amount to be paid" , "Rate, evaluate" , "Place a value on" , "Gauge, evaluate" .)