The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 7 letter word REAR ADMIRAL
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
R
E
A
R
A
D
M
I
R
A
L
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Officer finally involved in a dire alarm at sea" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case officer finally involved in a dire alarm at sea = rear admiral.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.