Ship, heading off, symbol of military might? (5)

I believe the answer is:

eagle

'symbol of military might?' is the definition.

'ship heading off' is the wordplay.
'ship' becomes 'beagle' (ship Charles Darwin travelled on).
'heading off' means to remove the first letter.
'beagle' with its initial letter removed is 'EAGLE'.

(Other definitions for eagle that I've seen before include "experts are putting more than albatross?" , "It may soar" , "Keen-eyed bird" , "Large bird of prey" , "ten-dollar coin" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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