Lots stow sails in warships (8)
I believe the answer is:
frigates
'warships' is the definition.
(frigate is a kind of warship)
'lots stow sails in' is the wordplay.
'lots' becomes 'fates' ('fate' can be a synonym of 'lot').
'stow sails' becomes 'rig' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'fates' enclosing 'rig' is 'FRIGATES'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for frigates that I've seen before include "Ships" , "Class of warships" , "boats" .)