Victory was one of those fine prisoners’ words leading to cheers (9)

I believe the answer is:

flagships

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'victory was one of those fine prisoners' words leading' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.

'to cheers' is the wordplay.
'to' becomes 'flags' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'cheers' becomes 'hips' (I've seen this before).
'flags'+'hips'='FLAGSHIPS'

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I've seen this clue in The Times.

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