The length of the lines indicate the distance to the vessel, comparing it against the distance scale on the map gives me an accurate depiction of exactly how far it is.
Knowing whether a ship is a warship or a merchant from its sound isn't completely unrealistic. Most warships have two screws and generally run faster than a merchant, which generally have just one screw, and these differences sound different in the water. The game could be merely simulating what a good, trained sonarman ought to be able to detect. I think the game does take this a little to the extreme though, so maybe the sonarman is a little too good in a lot of cases.
I know in today's navy they have these sound differences down so exact, that every individual merchant and warship has its own sound signature that can be distinguished just by hearing it run in the water, allowing a sonarman to know not only know what type of ship it is but exactly what ship it is down to its name, all by listening to its sound running in the water. This is mostly done by computer though.
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