The ship's captain in charge of armada dropping off ambassador (4)
I believe the answer is:
boss
'the ship's captain in charge' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'of armada dropping off ambassador' is the wordplay.
'of' is an anagram indicator (the answer comes from or 'of' the letters).
'dropping off' is a deletion indicator.
'ambassador' with 'armada' removed is 'bsso'.
'bsso' anagrammed gives 'BOSS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for boss that I've seen before include "Domineer" , "Manager (colloq.); stud" , "One managing" , "Control" , "Stud; employer" .)