Harbour vessel repurposed by military for contention (3-2-3)
I believe the answer is:
tug-of-war
'harbour' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'vessel repurposed by military for contention' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'vessel' could be 'tug' (tug is a kind of vessel) and 'tug' is present in the answer.
'by' could be 'of' and 'of' is located in the answer.
'contention' could be 'war' and 'war' is found in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tug-of-war that I've seen before include "Contest of strength" , "Sporting test of strength" , "Pulling contest" .)