Praiseworthy naval officer, English, penning book (9)
I believe the answer is:
admirable
'praiseworthy' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'naval officer english penning book' is the wordplay.
'naval officer' becomes 'admiral' (I've seen this before).
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'penning' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'book' becomes 'b'.
'admiral'+'e'='admirale'
'admirale' going around 'b' is 'ADMIRABLE'.
(Other definitions for admirable that I've seen before include "Commendable" , "Deserving of esteem" , "Praiseworthy" , "Excellent" , "Splendid" .)