Ships they're scrapping about to be saved (10)
I believe the answer is:
freighters
'ships' is the definition.
(freighter is a kind of ship)
'scrapping about to be saved' is the wordplay.
'scrapping' becomes 'fighters' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'about to' becomes 're' (I've seen this in other clues).
'be saved' is an insertion indicator (save can mean to keep hold of).
'fighters' enclosing 're' is 'FREIGHTERS'.
'they're' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for freighters that I've seen is " merchant ships".)