Ship's sails etc split a lot (7)
I believe the answer is:
frigate
'ship's' is the definition.
(frigate is a kind of ship)
'sails etc split a lot' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'sails' could be 'rig' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'rig' is located in the answer.
'a' is within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for frigate that I've seen before include "Warship - seabird" , "Light warship" , "Ship" , "Type of warship" , "Naval escort vessel" .)