Unsophisticated alert botched on ship (7)
I believe the answer is:
artless
'unsophisticated' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'alert botched on ship' is the wordplay.
'botched' indicates anagramming the letters.
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'ship' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
'alert' with letters rearranged gives 'artle'.
'artle'+'ss'='ARTLESS'
(Other definitions for artless that I've seen before include "Free from cunning" , "Nave" , "as an empty gallery" , "Naive - unskilful" , "Without guile or affectation" .)