Ships, having lost little time, make run for it (4)
I believe the answer is:
flee
'run for it' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'ships having lost little time' is the wordplay.
'ships' becomes 'fleet' (I've seen this before).
'having lost' suggests deleting specific letters.
'little time' becomes 't' (abbreviation for time).
'fleet' with 't' taken away is 'FLEE'.
'make' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for flee that I've seen before include "Abscond" , "Take to one's heels" , "rush" , "Turn tail" , "retreat" .)