Grief at destruction of warship (7)
I believe the answer is:
frigate
'warship' is the definition.
(I know that frigate is a type of warship)
'grief at destruction' is the wordplay.
'destruction' is an anagram indicator.
'grief'+'at'='griefat'
'griefat' with letters rearranged gives 'FRIGATE'.
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for frigate that I've seen before include "Warship; -- bird" , "Warship - seabird" , "Naval escort vessel" , "US warship" , "Ship" .)