Proof of English navy hacking innovative device (8)
I believe the answer is:
evidence
'proof' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'english navy hacking innovative device' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'english' could be 'e' (abbreviation) and 'e' is found within the answer.
'navy' could be 'n' (common abbreviation eg in RN Royal Navy) and 'n' is found within the answer.
an anagram of 'device' is 'videce' which is present in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'of' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for evidence that I've seen before include "Confirmation" , "Facts given in court" , "Indication" , "Information to help form a conclusion" , "Information in a law case" .)