Submarine about to disintegrate (1-4)
I believe the answer is:
u-boat
'submarine' is the definition.
(I know that submarine can be written as U-boat)
'about to disintegrate' is the wordplay.
'to disintegrate' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen 'disintegrated' mean this).
'about' with letters rearranged gives 'U-BOAT'.
(Other definitions for u-boat that I've seen before include "About (anag)" , "Sea vessel" , "German World War One or World War Two submarine" , "German wartime submarine" , "Submersible warship of WWII" .)