Officers may see arms laid at sea (8)
I believe the answer is:
admirals
'officers' is the definition.
(admiral is a kind of officer)
'arms laid at sea' is the wordplay.
'at sea' indicates anagramming the letters.
'arms'+'laid'='armslaid'
'armslaid' anagrammed gives 'ADMIRALS'.
'may see' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for admirals that I've seen before include "Officers" , "Supreme fleet commanders" , "Supreme commanders of fleets" .)